Judges' and Potential Jurors' Perceptions of Personality Disorders as a Mitigating Factor in Capital Sentencing Decisions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelby Arnold
Keyword(s):  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Capital Sentencing ◽  
Sentencing Decisions ◽  
Mitigating Factor

The effect of mortality salience on death penalty sentencing decisions when the defendant is severely mentally ill

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryn Bandt-Law ◽  
Daniel Krauss
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Mortality Salience ◽  
Capital Sentencing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fair Process ◽  
Sentencing Decisions ◽  
Severely Mentally Ill ◽  
Salient Factor ◽  
Mitigating Factor

Purpose Mortality is a salient factor during capital sentencing. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role death plays in jurors’ decisions when sentencing a severely mentally ill defendant who is subject to possible discrimination in a capital trial because of that status. Design/methodology/approach The current experiment measured venire jurors’ (n=133) mental illness dangerousness beliefs, and then experimentally manipulated type of mortality salience (dual-focused: participants who contemplated their own mortality and were exposed to trial-related death references vs trial focused: only exposed to death references) and the type of defendant (severely mentally ill vs neutral) accused of a capital offense. Findings Mock jurors perceived mental illness to be an important mitigating factor when dual (i.e. self) focused mortality (DFM) salience was induced, whereas participants only exposed to trial-related death references considered mental illness to be an aggravating factor in sentencing and were more likely to evidence stereotype adherence toward the defendant. Practical implications The implications of the authors’ findings are problematic for the current legal system. During the majority of capital sentencing, jurors will only be exposed to trial-related death references, as individuals in the trial-focused mortality condition were. The findings suggest that these jurors are likely to engage in discriminatory stereotypes that do not consider fair process when making sentencing decisions. This research also suggests that mortality salience may be able to increase jurors’ attention to such concerns in a trial scenario even when negative mental illness stereotypes are present. Originality/value Research builds on existing terror management theory and offers a more nuanced perspective of how focusing on one’s own death can affect jurors’ reliance on stereotypes and lead to inappropriate decisions. Mortality salience can lead to decisions based upon procedural fairness when stereotypes and mortality salience are both present.

The Death Penalty Trial: How Jury Sentencing Decisions Relate to Capital Sentencing Procedures

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Wolbransky ◽  
Michael E. Keesler ◽  
Pamela Laughon ◽  
David DeMatteo
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
Capital Sentencing ◽  
Sentencing Decisions

Sentencing in cases of marital rape: towards changing the male imagination

Legal Studies ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 592-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Warner
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Relationship ◽  
Male Sexuality ◽  
Marital Rape ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Sentencing Decisions ◽  
Rape Law ◽  
Aggressive Male ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
Mitigating Factor ◽  
Court Of Appeal

The failure of rape law to convict more men and to protect more women appears to be attributable to the fact that underlying, and assumed by, the law is a male dominated conception of aggressive and possessive male sexuality and a misunderstanding of the real wrong of rape. The sentencing stage of criminal proceedings offers courts the opportunity to challenge these attitudes. Court of Appeal sentencing decisions in cases of marital and relationship rape are analysed and sentencing principles and practice which endorse and reinforce a male dominated conception of sexuality and the wrong of rape are criticised. So, it is argued, an intimate relationship between the offender and the victim should not be a mitigating factor. Nor should forgiveness be a special mitigating factor in cases of marital rape. And attempts to mitigate rape by explaining it in terms of emotional stress, an excess of seductive zeal or other ways that treat aggressive male sexual behaviour and female passivity as the norm, should not be countenanced. Instead, sentencing guidance should foster attitudes which conceive of sexuality as an expression of equal and sharing relationships.

The Myth of Rapists and Other Normal Men: The Impact of Psychiatric Considerations on the Sentencing of Sexual Assault Offenders

1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronit Dinovitzer
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Sexual Offenders ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Feminist Literature ◽  
Sentencing Decisions ◽  
Labelling Theory ◽  
Normal Men ◽  
Mitigating Factor ◽  
The Impact

AbstractCanadian sentencing commissions have recommended that mental illness be considered as a mitigating factor in sentencing. With respect to sexual assault, some feminist literature asserts that over-reliance on psychiatric factors not only absolves the offender, but also serves to reinforce the myth that “normal” men do not rape women and children. In this study, data were collected on 97 Canada-wide sexual assault sentencing decisions from 15 August 1992 through 15 August 1993. This research does not find support for the hypothesis that sexual offenders are typically characterized as suffering from a mental disorder. Furthermore, using multiple regression, an interaction between judicial perception of the severity of the crime and judicial mention of psychiatric factors is found. The data show that psychiatric factors interact with perceptions of force, actually leading to harsher sentences. The impact of this variable turns out to be the opposite of what the literature would expect one to find: judicial perceptions of mental disorder act as aggravating factors in the sentencing of sexual assault offenders when a judge also believes that force has been used in the commission of the offence. The results of this research are then interpreted within the context of labelling theory.

Judicial Narratives of Ideal and Deviant Victims in Judges’ Capital Sentencing Decisions

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 716-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Zaykowski ◽  
Ross Kleinstuber ◽  
Caitlin McDonough
Keyword(s):  
Capital Sentencing ◽  
Sentencing Decisions

Tools & Resources: Impairment and Disability Web Sites

1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 5-6
Keyword(s):  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Outpatient Psychotherapy ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Not Otherwise Specified ◽  
Cluster B Personality Disorders ◽  
Clinically Significant ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract Personality disorders are enduring patterns of inner experience and behavior that deviate markedly from those expected by the individual's culture; these inflexible and pervasive patterns reflect issues with cognition, affectivity, interpersonal functioning and impulse control, and lead to clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. The AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fourth Edition, defines two specific personality disorders, in addition to an eleventh condition, Personality Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. Cluster A personality disorders include paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personalities; of these, Paranoid Personality Disorder probably is most common in the legal arena. Cluster B personality disorders include antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality. Such people may suffer from frantic efforts to avoid perceived abandonment, patterns of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships, an identity disturbance, and impulsivity. Legal issues that involve individuals with cluster B personality disorders often involve determination of causation of the person's problems, assessment of claims of harassment, and assessment of the person's fitness for employment. Cluster C personality disorders include avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality. Two case histories illustrate some of the complexities of assessing impairment in workers with personality disorders, including drug abuse, hospitalizations, and inpatient and outpatient psychotherapy.

Test-Retest Reliability of a Self-Report Questionnaire for DSM-IV and ICD-10 Personality Disorders

2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Ottosson ◽  
Martin Grann ◽  
Gunnar Kullgren
Keyword(s):  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Anxiety State ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Retest Reliability ◽  
Axis I ◽  
Test Retest Reliability

Summary: Short-term stability or test-retest reliability of self-reported personality traits is likely to be biased if the respondent is affected by a depressive or anxiety state. However, in some studies, DSM-oriented self-reported instruments have proved to be reasonably stable in the short term, regardless of co-occurring depressive or anxiety disorders. In the present study, we examined the short-term test-retest reliability of a new self-report questionnaire for personality disorder diagnosis (DIP-Q) on a clinical sample of 30 individuals, having either a depressive, an anxiety, or no axis-I disorder. Test-retest scorings from subjects with depressive disorders were mostly unstable, with a significant change in fulfilled criteria between entry and retest for three out of ten personality disorders: borderline, avoidant and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Scorings from subjects with anxiety disorders were unstable only for cluster C and dependent personality disorder items. In the absence of co-morbid depressive or anxiety disorders, mean dimensional scores of DIP-Q showed no significant differences between entry and retest. Overall, the effect from state on trait scorings was moderate, and it is concluded that test-retest reliability for DIP-Q is acceptable.

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