Stigma and diagnostic terminology in the courtroom: a systematic review and experimental study of juror decision-making.

Holmes, Harriet L. (2024) Stigma and diagnostic terminology in the courtroom: a systematic review and experimental study of juror decision-making. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Background: Certain mental health conditions are understood to be associated with high levels of stigma, as is being charged with committing a criminal offence. There is limited research however on how diagnostic information presented at trial, together with a juror’s own underlying stigmatic attitudes towards defendants with mental health conditions, may impact the process of reaching a verdict within a criminal court.

Method: The systematic review sought to synthesise contemporary experimental literature exploring legal decision-making when information about the defendant’s mental health condition is presented as relevant to the criminal case. The empirical paper built upon the findings of previous research by exploring the impact of stigma and diagnostic terminology on mock juror decision-making in an online mock criminal damage trial.

Results: Twenty-one studies were included in the systematic review, twenty of which were conducted across North America. The majority of the studies focused on the individual decision-making of mock-jurors, violent offences and diagnoses such as psychopathy. Studies varied significantly in their aims, sampling, use of measures and methodology. Findings also illustrated significant variation in the presence and direction of effects of independent variables on legal outcomes. The empirical study found no significant differences in guilt outcomes between the three diagnostic conditions (schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder or Complex Mental Health condition), but did suggest that baseline levels of stigma were an influential factor in the verdicts mock jurors gave.

Conclusions: Experimental mock juror studies are crucial in furthering the understanding of the factors impacting legal decision-making processes in the current absence of research with real juries. However, there is limited consistency in how studies are approaching decision-making in relation to defendants with mental health conditions. Stigma may be one factor which influences the verdicts given in a mock trial. Strengths, limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Nicola Veasy
Date Deposited:	12 Nov 2024 09:07
Last Modified:	12 Nov 2024 09:07
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/97625
DOI:

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