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Mental Health In The Courtroom: How Victim Mental Illness Impacts Juror Decision-Making In A Rape Case, Mary M. Levi

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The influence of mental illness on jury decision-making has rarely been investigated, and even fewer studies have examined how jurors perceive a victim with mental illness. The present study investigated the effect of victim mental illness on jury decision-making in a rape trial using a 3 (victim mental health status: schizophrenia, depression, no illness) x 2 (participant gender: female, male) between-subjects design. I hypothesized that mock jurors would render fewer guilty verdicts in the schizophrenia condition compared to the depression condition, and render fewer guilty verdicts in the schizophrenia and depression conditions compared to the control. I also hypothesized that …