Abstract

Research on offense judgment differing by victim typicality has usually focused on sexual violence, and studies on victim typicality of dating violence remain scarce. However, the social concern for the recent increase of dating violence cases demands research on social stereotypes of dating violence victims, especially focusing on how they affect judgments of dating violence cases. We examined if judgment of dating violence cases differed by victim typicality. The results based on 160 adults (80 females and 80 males) showed that the higher the level of victim typicality, the more seriously the offense was evaluated. In addition, the level of offense seriousness mediated the relationship between victim typicality and judgment of offender responsibility and victim blame. The higher the level of victim typicality, the more seriously the offense was evaluated, and the bigger the offender responsibility and the less the victim was blamed. Finally, we discussed policy implications of the study for preventing secondary victimization in criminal proceedings and developing education programs for jurors.