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ToolsMetcalfe-Hulme, Rachel, O Leary, Cliodhna, Nobes, Gavin, Edwards, Ian and Beazley, Peter (2026) Juror Decision Making: Does juror stigma, mental health literacy, or the description of a defendant’s mental health status, impact decision-making in a mock criminal trial? International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 106 (May-June). ISSN 0160-2527
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
There has been limited research considering how different types of mental health information can influence juror decisions of guilt. The present study adopted an experimental methodology in which the amount of mental health information presented to contextualise an alleged offence of Criminal Damage was varied. Participants (n=243) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (‘control’: a mental health explanation could be reasonably inferred but was not directly stated; ‘symptoms only’: clear mental health symptoms were described but no diagnosis was provided; ‘symptoms + diagnosis’: which only differed from the ‘symptoms’ condition by additionally describing the condition as ‘paranoid schizophrenia’). Participants watched a series of videos depicting a fictional criminal trial and were asked to make judgements of guilt. Baseline stigma towards mental health conditions and mental health literacy (MHL) were measured using standardised scales. Guilt ratings were measured as the dependent variable. Regression analyses identified that mental health information, stigma, and MHL were all important predictors of guilt, however interaction effects indicated that people with higher MHL were particularly influenced by increasing mental health information (with guilt judgements decreasing more for those with higher MHL). A particularly notable finding was that the addition of a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia was associated with a reduction in guilt ratings, even after controlling for all other factors. The results are relevant to the way in which mental health conditions are described in the courtroom, and suggestions are made for future research.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | OSF version is pre-print. This work arises from ClinPsyD theses by Rachel Tremlin and Cliodhna O'Leary. Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2026.102197. The data used for analysis in this article are available from the corresponding author following reasonable request. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | jurors,decision making,schizophrenia,stigma,mental health literacy,mock jury,regression,clinical psychology,law,experimental and cognitive psychology,sdg 16 - peace, justice and strong institutions,sdg 10 - reduced inequalities,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3203 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > UEA Experimental Philosophy Group Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Social Cognition Research Group Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Developmental Science Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Cognition, Action and Perception Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Research on Children and Families Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Mental Health and Social Care (fka Lifespan Health) |
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| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Feb 2026 08:30 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Feb 2026 07:30 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101939 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.ijlp.2026.102197 |
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