Facial appearance distinguishes leaders from followers and is associated with sentencing outcomes among youth criminal group members

Youth criminal groups often involve leaders and followers, but it is not currently understood how delinquent peer groups form around leaders. Perceptual psychology has shown that non-criminal leaders display specific facial cues indicative of leadership status. We tested whether facial cues were similarly associated with leadership among youth criminal groups and involved with downstream sentencing outcomes. Study 1 revealed that leaders of youth criminal groups were perceived as more dominant than their followers. In Study 2, participants were tasked with selecting the leaders from their groups and were more likely to (correctly) select targets perceived as more dominant but also (incorrectly) select targets perceived as more trustworthy. In Study 3, we examined whether facial impressions were associated with downstream sentencing outcomes. Perceptions of trustworthiness were associated with reduced sentencing, but dominance was unrelated. The results underscore the role that facial appearance plays in youth criminal group formation and sentencing.

青少年犯罪团伙通常涉及领导者与追随者，然而目前尚不清楚违法的同龄群体是如何围绕领导者形成的。感知心理学研究表明，非犯罪领导者表现出特定的面部特征，这些特征指示其领导地位。本研究旨在探讨面部特征是否在青少年犯罪团伙中与领导地位具有相似关联，并涉及后续的判决结果。第一项研究表明，青少年犯罪团伙的领导者被感知为比追随者更具主导性。在第二项研究中，参与者被要求从其群体中选出领导者，他们更有可能（正确地）选择被感知为更具主导性的目标，但也可能（错误地）选择被感知为更值得信赖的目标。在第三项研究中，我们考察了面部印象是否与后续的判决结果相关。值得信赖的感知与较低的判决结果相关，但主导性则与之无关。这些结果强调了面部外观在青少年犯罪团伙形成及判决结果中所扮演的角色。