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Running head : CRIME CONGRUENCY 1 Race-Crime Congruency in the Canadian Context

The purpose of this study was to examine whether cases in which the defendant’s race was congruent with a race-stereotypic crime would result in more guilty verdicts and different responsibility attributions. Canadian jury eligible participants read one of three fictional trial transcripts in which we varied the race of the defendant (Black, White, or Aboriginal Canadian). We hypothesized that the Black defendant would receive the harshest treatment in an auto theft case, the White defendant in a fraud case, and the Aboriginal Canadian defendant in a dangerous operation of a motor vehicle case involving intoxication. Results demonstrated only modest evidence of a congruency effect for these crimes. While there was a race by crime type interaction, the patterns in verdict decisions diverged from previous work on race-crime stereotypes. There were no differences in verdict breakdowns for the White defendant. While the Black defendant received a greater proportion of guilty verdicts for the auto theft trial as compared with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, verdict decisions did not significantly differ when compared with the fraud trial. For the Aboriginal Canadian defendant, the only verdict difference was a greater proportion of guilty verdicts in the auto theft compared with the fraud trial. Future researchers should examine a potential interaction with juror race when considering crime-congruency.