Stigma or Support? How Gender, Race, and Intersectionality Impact Perceptions of Exonerees
Abstract
Little research has examined the gendered nature of wrongful convictions and how the intersectionality of gender and race impacts perceptions of exonerees and support for reintegration services. With two vignette experiments, we assess laypeople’s perceptions of female or male, Black or White exonerees (Study 1 and 2) who were wrongfully convicted due to official misconduct or a false confession (Study 2) in varying child-victim cases. When wrongfully convicted of a violent homicide (Study 1), White female exonerees were viewed less favorably than Black females and White males were viewed least favorably. However, in a no-crime Shaken Baby Syndrome case (Study 2), false confessors were viewed least favorably, but gender and race did not impact perceptions. We provide potential explanations for these findings and implications for exonerees’ reintegration experiences.
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Some studies found no significant differences in attitudes toward White and Black exonerees.
“or at least no significant differences were observed (Bettens et al., 2024; Hamovitch et al., 2022 ; Karaffa et al., 2017 ).”
From Reconsidering racial and ethnic bias in wrongful convictions: trends in disparities in time to exoneration (2026) · cites this paper as Bettens et al., 2024
Cites
Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color
Crenshaw, K. (1991) · Stanford Law Review · doi:10.2307/1229039 · Cited by 29,585 · see citing works
Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment.
Brewer, R. M., & Collins, P. H. (1992) · Contemporary Sociology · doi:10.2307/2074808 · Cited by 19,445 · see citing works
Do they matter? A meta-analytic investigation of individual characteristics and guilt judgments.
Devine, D. J., & Caughlin, D. E. (2014) · Psychology, Public Policy, and Law · doi:10.1037/law0000006 · Cited by 245 · see citing works
Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States 2022
Gross, S. R., Possley, M., Otterbourg, K., Stephens, K., Paredes, J., & O'Brien, B. (2022) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4245863 · Cited by 97 · cited 6× · see citing works
“Using data from the NRE, Jackson and Gross (2014) outlined two critical differences in the crimes of which female and male exonerees are wrongly convicted: 1) female exonerees are more likely to be convicted of violent crimes with child victims compared to men (40% and 22%, respectively); and 2) female exonerees are m…”
InfluentialStigma and wrongful conviction: all exonerees are not perceived equal
Clow, K. A., & Leach, A.-M. (2015) · Psychology, Crime & Law · doi:10.1080/1068316x.2014.951645 · Cited by 56 · cited 10× · see citing works
“…are stigmatized to a greater extent than those who were wrongly convicted due to other reasons, like a mistaken eyewitness identification or police mis-conduct (e.g., Clow & Leach, 2015b; Kieckhaefer & Luna, 2022; Kukucka & Evelo, 2019; Savage et al., 2018; Scherr, Normile, & Putney, 2018).”
InfluentialKaraffa, K. M., Page, J., & Koch, J. M. (2017) · Criminal Justice Policy Review · doi:10.1177/0887403415607049 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
The stigma of wrongful conviction differs for White and Black exonerees.
Faison, L., Smalarz, L., Madon, S., & Clow, K. A. (2023) · Law and Human Behavior · doi:10.1037/lhb0000522 · Cited by 6 · cited 6× · see citing works
“However, research by Faison et al. (2023) utilized naturalistic observations via unobtrusive behavioral measures to examine race differences in perceptions of exonerees and found more favorable perceptions of Black than White exonerees.”
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Itskovich, E. (2026) · American Journal of Criminal Justice · doi:10.1007/s12103-025-09876-x
“…in the criminal justice system (King & Light, 2019; Mitchell et al., 2023) and more positive attitudes toward minority wrongful convicts (Bettens et al., 2024; Kieckhaefer & Luna, 2024), we hypothesize that while racial and ethnic minorities historically suffered longer exoneration…”
Influential
- Authors
- Bettens, T., Warren, A. R., & Pica, E.
- Affiliations
- George Mason University (US)
- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (US)
- Austin Peay State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bettens, Talley
- Venue
- Women & Criminal Justice
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2024-08-06
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 383-400
- ISSN
- 0897-4454 (ISSN-L)
- 1541-0323
- OpenAlex
- W4401870596
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1
- FWCI
- 2.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Women & Criminal Justice (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
- Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- exonerees, wrongful convictions, gender, race, intersectionality, public perception, reintegration services, false confessions, official misconduct, shaken baby syndrome, stigma, Black women
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