[Virtual] Psychology Edwards Seminar with Lupita Gonzalez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Purchase College SUNY

Beyond Innocence: Effects of Race, Gender, and Skin Tone on Perceptions of Exonerees
Lupita Gonzalez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Purchase College SUNY
 

In this talk, I will present our research which applied an intersectional framework to examine how multiple social identities influence perceptions of exonerees. Exonerees—individuals who are wrongfully convicted of a crime and later proved innocent—continue to experience stigma and lack support to reintegrate into society post-incarceration. Although research indicates that the race and gender of exonerees influences stigma, prior literature is limited since it usually examines social categories (e.g., race, gender) as separate variables that do not interact. To address this gap, we applied an intersectional framework to examine how interactions between race, gender, and skin tone influence perceptions and support for exonerees. I will present our findings from two studies in which participants were presented with news stories discussing the exoneration of individuals who were wrongfully imprisoned for a crime they did not commit. Study 1 examined how race and gender influence guilt judgments, overall perceptions, government assistance, and monetary donations for exonerees (Normile, Gonzalez, & Scerbo, submitted). Study 2 was a follow-up study that examined how race, gender, and skin tone influence perceptions of exonerees and whether these findings differ based on the race of participants (Gonzalez, Normile, Felix, Arroyo, in prep). The effects of social categories on social cognition and implications for the criminal justice system and society at large will be discussed.

This virtual lecture is via Zoom.

These lectures are made possible by a generous endowment by Professor Allen L. Edwards