Sigall and Ostrove (1975)

== Aim ==
Whether attractiveness affected jury query making.This changes how Ostrove perceived the court of law.
== Procedure ==
120 participants were given a piece of card with a crime written on it and a photograph of a woman known as Barbara Helms. They were split into six different groups of 20 participants. Each group saw either an attractive or an unattractive photograph of Barbara and read about a fraud or burglary she had committed.
1 attractive photograph of Barbara accused of burglary 
2 unattractive photograph of Barbara accused of burglary
3 no photograph with the burglary case (control group)
4 attractive photograph of Barbara accused of fraud
5 unattractive photograph of Barbara accused of fraud
6 no photograph with the fraud case (control group)
Firstly all participants were asked to rate how attractive Barbara was to make sure that the participants agreed which photographs showed Barbara as attractive or unattractive. Then the researchers asked the individual jurors in each group to give Barbara a prison sentence ranging from one to fifteen years.
== Results ==
A similar length of sentence was awarded for both crimes, with both the unattractive photo  and no photo. However, the attractive photo had a big effect on the participant's decision. They thought the attractive Barbara should spend longer in prison for fraud and less time in prison for burglary. Attractive people are associated with crimes like fraud because they use their good looks to swindle money out of others. Their victims would see them as trustworthy in order to hand over their money.
== Conclusion ==
Highlights the importance that looks have on jury decision making. Good looking people do get away with some crimes, but if they have used their looks to commit a crime they are less likely to get away with it.
== Evaluation ==
Strengths 	Weaknesses
The study used good controls:
All participants were given the same instructions . More reliable, study could be repeated the same way again The control group was useful to show whether the photographs did affect participants’ decisions or not	The experiment is not realistic as it is not what a jury would normally experience. They would see the defendant in real life and listen to evidence and testimonies, and decide as a group.
Participants asked to rate the attractiveness of the photograph, to ensure that the participants agreed that the photo shown was an attractive/unattractive person.	Juries only normally decide whether a defendant is guilty or not. It is the judge that decides the length of prison sentence. Not realistic.
It could inform jurors/juries to not base their decisions on what a defendant looks like. 	
Less likely to guess the aim of the study.