Article ID: 2210
Recently, the introduction of a “rape shield law”, which prohibits evidence that is related to the victim’s privacy or irrelevant from being revealed to the court, is being discussed in Japan. This study aimed to primarily examine the impact of victim-related information (sexual history and occupation) on the defendant’s sentence. A Bayesian approach was used for the analysis. The findings revealed that the main effects of victim-related information on sentencing included 0 in their credible intervals, indicating that there were no main effects. However, the analysis of interaction effects indicated that when the victim was described as having more records of sexual history and to be working in the sex industry, the defendant was recommended to serve a longer sentence than when no description of the victim’s sexual history and occupation was provided and when the victim was described as working in the sex industry. The policy implications of the above results were discussed.