Trial by gender? Examining jury decision making in cases of rape and sexual abuse involving male victims

在截至2020年3月的一年中，155，000名年龄在16-74岁之间的男性经历了某种形式的性侵犯（包括企图）（ONS，2021 a，第3节）。警方报告的犯罪数据突出表明，在同期记录的性犯罪受害者中，男子占15.5%（国家统计局，2021年b，表19）。男性受害者遭受性暴力的经历特别具有性别差异，并遭遇特定的性别和性别角色神话和陈规定型观念（韦斯，2010年; Weare，2021年）。尽管如此，研究从来没有调查陪审员的特点和信仰是否可能影响审议和决策的陪审团审判在英格兰和威尔士，男子是性犯罪的受害者。2015年《刑事司法和法院法》中的规定阻止研究人员在英格兰和威尔士与真正的审判陪审员一起进行此类研究。因此，模拟陪审团审判代表了最好的方法，可以获得有价值的见解陪审团审议。在强奸和严重性犯罪案件中，了解陪审员的决策尤其重要，因为这类案件的定罪率很低。这项研究将根据涉及男性性犯罪受害者的案件进行模拟陪审团审判。数据采集将分为2个数据流，连续运行。每个组别将举行9场模拟陪审团审讯，每场有12名模拟陪审员，共有216名模拟陪审员参与（每组108名）。第一组将以涉及一名男性原告和一名男性被告的强奸案为基础。一旦为流1收集了数据，流2将开始。这将基于涉及男性原告和女性被告的“强奸”情景。强奸在这里用引号包围，因为根据英格兰和威尔士的现行法律，这种罪行不会被定为强奸罪，而是在未经同意的情况下导致某人从事性活动的罪行（2003年《性犯罪法》，第4条）。模拟陪审员将被邀请参加随机选择的基础上，从公开的选民登记册在兰开夏郡，研究人员将购买访问。这一做法复制了英格兰和威尔士真正的陪审员甄选程序。每个模拟陪审团将参加一个现场模拟强奸审判模拟，持续不超过3小时。在模拟审判期间，所有预期的刑事法院参与者都将出席，并尽可能严格遵守真正的审判程序。真正的控方和辩方律师将提出案件，案件将由真正的法官主持。其他法庭参与者，例如，原告、被告等，将由演员扮演。在模拟审判结束时，陪审团将被派往陪审团审议室审议他们的裁决，以复制刑事法院大楼内的裁决。审议将被录音，陪审团将返回模拟法庭作出裁决。一旦陪审员作出裁决，他们将被要求参加一个简短的录音汇报与研究人员提供见解（一）他们如何达到他们的个人裁决，（二）如何集团达到他们的最终裁决，（三）在什么情况下，陪审团可能会得出不同的决定。他们还将被要求反思他们参与研究的经历。模拟陪审员还将在模拟审判当天在3个不同的时间点完成纸笔问卷;审判前，审议前和审议后。这将使研究人员能够在模拟审判的关键时刻收集更多关于陪审员判断和决策的信息，尽可能真实地进行模拟审判将有助于了解陪审员在决策时是否会利用男性强奸神话，以及陪审员的心理社会特征可能产生的影响。这些调查结果将改善司法部各组织在涉及强奸男性受害者的案件方面的政策和做法。

In year ending March 2020, 155,000 men aged 16-74 experienced some form of sexual assault (including attempts) (ONS, 2021a, Section 3). Police reported crime data highlights that men represented 15.5% of sexual offence victims recorded over the same period (ONS, 2021b, Table 19). Male victims have particularly gendered experiences of sexual violence and encounter specific gender and sex-role myths and stereotypes (Weiss, 2010; Weare, 2021). Despite this, research has never investigated whether juror characteristics and beliefs may impact deliberations and decision-making within jury trials in England and Wales where men are the victims of a sexual offence. Provisions within the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 prevent researchers from carrying out such studies with genuine trial jurors in England and Wales. Therefore, mock jury trials represent the best method possible to gain valuable insights into jury deliberations. Understanding juror decision making is particularly important within the context of rape and serious sexual offences because of low conviction rates in such cases. This research will conduct mock jury trials based on cases involving male sexual offence victims. Data collection will be divided into 2 streams, run consecutively. 9 mock jury trials each involving 12 mock jurors will be conducted in each stream, with a total of 216 mock jurors involved (108 per stream). Stream 1 will be based upon a rape scenario involving a male complainant and a male defendant. Once data has been gathered for stream 1, stream 2 will commence. This will be based upon a 'rape' scenario involving a male complainant and female defendant. Rape is surrounded by inverted commas here because under the existing law in England and Wales such an offence would not be criminalised as rape, but under the offence of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent (The Sexual Offences Act 2003, s.4). Mock jurors will be invited to participate based on random selection from the open electoral register within Lancashire, which researchers will purchase access to. This replicates the genuine juror selection process within England and Wales. Each mock jury group will take part in a live mock rape trial simulation, lasting for no more than 3 hours. During the mock trial, all expected Crown Court participants will be present and genuine trial procedures followed as closely as possible. Genuine prosecution and defence barristers will present the case, and it will be presided over by a genuine judge. Other court participants, e.g., the complainant, defendant etc., will be played by actors. At the end of the mock trial, juries will be sent out to deliberate their verdict in jury deliberation rooms, set out to replicate those within Crown Court buildings. Deliberations will be audio recorded and juries will return to the mock court room to deliver their verdicts. Once jurors have delivered their verdicts they will be asked to participate in a short audio-recorded debrief with a researcher to provide insights on (i) how they reached their individual verdict, (ii) how the group reached their final verdict, and (iii) under what circumstances the jury may have come to a different decision. They will also be asked to reflect on their experience of participating in the research. Mock jurors will also complete paper and pencil questionnaires on the day of the mock trial at 3 distinct timepoints; pre-trial, pre-deliberation, and post-deliberation. This will allow researchers to gather more information on juror judgements and decision making at key points during the mock trial.Conducting mock trials as realistically as possible will provide important insights into whether male rape myths are drawn upon by jurors in their decision making, as well as potential impacts of jurors' psychosocial characteristics. These findings will improve policies and practices in organisations across the CJS in relation to cases involving male victims of rape.