Abstract

The aim of this study was to verify the effect of gender and amount of criminal settlement on punitive judgment and responsibility judgment in a false rape allegation case. An online survey was conducted on 406 adult men and women and were randomly assigned to one of six experimental condition. The findings of this study are as follow. First, there was an interaction effect of the gender of the participant and the gender of the defendant in the punitive judgment and responsibility judgment except sentencing judgment. In other words, participants applied heavier punishment and sentencing judgments to the defendants of the opposite gender, while lighter punishment and sentencing judgments were applied to the defendants of the same gender. However, the amount of the criminal settlement did not have a significant effect on all dependent variables. In this study, we empirically examined how the gender of the participants, the gender of the defendant and the amount of the criminal settlement affect the judgment of the false allegation of rape case which has not yet been fully discussed in Korea. In addition, it is meaningful to see how the amount of criminal settlement, which has not been covered before, affects the perception of victims of sexual violence who demand criminal settlement. The implications and limitations of the study were also discussed.