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The purpose of the paper is to investigate how judges and the general population formulate judgments on legal cases, considering both legal and extralegal factors, with a focus on the significance of the defendant’s sex.

The first experiment aimed to determine if non-lawyers’ judgments are affected by the defendant’s sex, using brief excerpts from indictments with the defendant’s sex interchanged. Study 2 aimed to verify if this effect applies to future lawyers, suggesting a peculiar approval granted by men to women displaying illegal sexual behaviour towards young men.

The findings showed that the sex of the offender only influenced judgments in sexual offences, with male participants being more lenient towards female offenders.

The originality/value of the paper lies in its examination of the influence of the defendant’s sex on judgments made by both judges and the general population, specifically focussing on non-lawyers’ judgments. While previous studies have shown that judges tend to be more lenient towards women in certain cases, this paper adds novelty by investigating whether a similar effect is observed among non-lawyers. Moreover, the research sheds light on the relevance of the defendant's sex in cases of sexual offences and identifies a gender-specific leniency towards female offenders, particularly among male participants. The study also explores how this effect might extend to future lawyers, providing insights into societal attitudes regarding illegal sexual behaviour involving women and young men. Overall, the paper contributes valuable information to the understanding of how sex-based biases can influence legal judgments and decision-making processes.

The purpose of the two online experimental studies was to examine how information about threats related to sexual crimes influences personal beliefs regarding social threats (in line with the finite pool of worry concept) and belief in a just world, as proposed by Melvin Lerner.

In the first experiment (n = 256), female participants were presented with press information about a sexual crime that occurred at a student concert. Different groups were informed whether the perpetrator was apprehended (or not) and asked to indicate the punishment they thought should be imposed. In the second experiment (n = 251), participants in the experimental group were asked to read texts about various threats that may concern them.

In both experiments, the authors measured the perceived risk of being a victim of a sexual crime (and, in Study 1, other threats) as well as belief in just world (at both personal and general levels). Analysis of results has shown that participants’ focus on one threat did not reduce their concerns about other threats. However, belief in just world appears to be negatively associated with the fear of being a victim of a sexual crime.

The findings concern the relationship between the sense of threat and belief in a just world. In this regard, both of the studies consistently showed that the threats the authors induced did not affect the level of belief in a just world. However, the second experiment revealed that belief in a just world is related to the fear of being raped. Belief in a just world serves as a foundation for good adaptation and functioning. It provides cognitive control, motivates hard work and long-term goal-setting and gives life meaning (e.g. Dalbert, 1999; Dalbert and Sallay, 2004; Sutton and Winnard, 2007). Therefore, a woman’s fear of being a victim of rape has implications that extend beyond this narrowly defined issue.