Dilks, Lisa M.McGrimmon, Tucker S.Thye, Shane R.2015-01-292015-01-292015-03Dilks, LM, McGrimmon, TS & Thye, SR 2015, 'Status, emotional displays, and the relationally-based evaluation of criminals and their behavior', Social Science Research, vol. 50, pp. 246-263.0049-089X (print)1096-0317 (online)10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.11.016http://hdl.handle.net/2263/43482This research uses status characteristics theory to expand our knowledge of the effects of status variables (e.g., race, education) and emotional displays on the antecedents of sentencing – evaluations of offender dangerousness and offense seriousness. We present a theoretical formulation that combines three areas of status characteristics research – reward expectations, individual evaluative settings and valued personal characteristics. The result is a quantitative measure that aggregates relative differences in demographic and emotional characteristics between offenders and their victims. The significance of this expectation advantage measure (e) in predicting evaluations of offender dangerousness and offense severity is tested using data from a vignette study. We find empirical support that expectation advantage significantly predicts these sentencing antecedents but not sentencing outcomes directly. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for future status and criminological research.en© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Social Science Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Social Science Research, vol. 50, pp. 246-263, 2015. doi : 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.11.016Status characteristics theoryValued personal characteristicsOffender dangerousnessOffense severitySentencingOffender–victim dyadPostprint Article