“If someone who is famous is accused of domestic violence, they will be treated just as fair by the jury.”
Big celebrities that are well liked by the public typically receive more preferential treatment by jurors. Celebrity privilege can easily sway a jury.
Specifically, the high celebrity status defendant was rated as less responsible for the crime than the low celebrity status defendant.80 Additionally, personal evaluations on ten traits of the two types of defendants, including likeability, trustworthiness, sensitivity, and competence were obtained from the mock jurors and combined for an overall personal evaluation score.81 The high celebrity status defendant was given more positive personal evaluations than the low celebrity status defendant,8 2 esp
Theories of social influence can provide an explanation for why celebrities might receive preferential treatment in the courtroom. Social influence refers to a change in the behavior of others due to the use of power by an individual or group. 51 Social
power is generally defined as the ability to influence others. 52 Referent power, a specific type of social power, is gained when a person is admired or liked by others. 53 The theory of social power would suggest that celebrities
exert referent power because they are typically admired and/or liked. Thus, celebrities have the ability to persuade jurors that they are innocent because they typically possess referent power.
The social power that celebrity defendants wield could result in three distinct responses from the jurors judging the case: compliance, identification, and internalization. 54 Compliance involves a person overtly going along
with the social influence without internal acceptance. For example, a juror would overtly be influenced by the celebrity's social power without actually changing his private opinion