Juror decision-making in cases of rape involving high functioning Autistic persons
Introduction
Existing research has highlighted that when in the context of criminal courts, verdicts of guilty or not guilty, and the process by which individuals come to these verdicts are highly influenced by the biases they hold (Dinos, Burrowes, Hammond, & Cunliffe, 2015; Eyssel & Bohner, 2011; Gray, 2006; Hammond, Berry, & Rodriguez, 2011; Krahé, Temkin, Bieneck, & Berger, 2008). Despite some existing research examining the impact of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis (of defendants/claimant) on the decision-making of jurors and judges, with some suggesting that ASD is an aggravating factor (Freckleton, 2013) while others suggesting that the presence of ASD reduced the number of guilty verdicts (Maras, Marshall, & Sands, 2019), our understanding of how ASD is perceived within court settings is sparse. Within the current available literature there has been a focus on the presence of an ASD diagnosis within the defendant, therefore there is limited empirical evidence exploring how the presence of such a diagnosis within a complainant impacts jury decision-making.
Section snippets
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that is typically characterised through functional impairments in social communication and interaction, restricted interests (which may appear unusual), and repetitive or restrictive patterns of behaviour (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, American Psychiatric Association, 2013) and current prevalence rates suggest that approximately 1% of the population has a diagnosis of ASD (Sun et al., 2019). Adults with a
The presence of a mental disorder can heavily influence how an individual is judged by others (Wainwright & Mojtahedi, 2020), and the differences in attitudes that people hold towards individuals with a diagnosis of ASD compared to others has been highlighted in research extensively (see Aubé, Follenfant, Goudeau, & Derguy, 2020; Dickter, Burk, Zeman, & Taylor, 2020; Kelly & Barnes-Holmes, 2013). Kelly and Barnes-Holmes (2013) assessed both implicit and explicit attitudes towards children with
Gender differences also seem to exist in public perceptions of ASD (Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2015; Stronach, Wiegand, Mentz, 2019). Stronach et al. (2018) found that although almost all participants possessed adequate knowledge of ASD, female participants demonstrated a greater understanding about the stigmatising beliefs surrounding ASD in comparison to male participants. Similarly, Gillespie-Lynch et al. (2015) found that women reported lower stigmatising attitudes towards individuals with
Autism Spectrum Disorder within the legal system
Research has suggested that although individuals with a diagnosis of ASD could be over represented within the legal system (Fazio, Pietz, & Denney, 2012; King & Murphy, 2014), those who are high functioning are less likely than the general public to commit an offence (Browning & Caulfield, 2011; Mouridsen, Rich, Isager, & Nedergaard, 2008). Yet, research has shown that stigmatising assumptions about Autism can influence individuals to form biased attitudes regarding the criminal disposition and
Jury Decision Scale
Pennington and Hastie's (1992) Story Model can be used to explain how jurors' decision-making processes are influenced by external and internal factors. The model suggests that jurors create a narrative regarding a case based on the information presented to them during a trial, their prior knowledge and the preconceived attitudes they hold. Jurors then use these to create a number of possible interpretations of the evidence presented to them in trial. Pennington and Hastie (1988) suggested that
The present study
Research shows that dispositional biases can influence the decision-making processes of jurors and this seems to be notably evident within rape cases (Eyssel & Bohner, 2011; Hammond et al., 2011; Krahé et al., 2008) with males being more likely than females to endorse them (Suarez and Gadalla (2010) and pass a not guilty verdict (Gray, 2006). Building from these observations, the current authors contend that attitudes towards individuals with ASD may also influence juror decision-making in
Participants
An online survey host (Qualtrics) was used to recruit participants. Measures were put in place to ensure that prospective participants would fit the eligibility criteria to act as jurors within the United Kingdom: Participants had to be aged between 18 and 70, and a registered citizen for at least five years. Through online advertisements, a total of 305 responses were recorded. However, 95 responses were omitted due to incompletion (n = 89) or failure to meet the age eligibility criteria
Results
The results are presented through two sections. First, analysis examining the differences in JDS subscale scores between participant groups (gender and condition) are presented. The second section then presents results pertaining to the participants' guilt verdicts, looking at differences in verdict decisions between participant groups and associations between JDS scores and final verdict.
A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test of normality indicated that the age and gender data between the three conditions
Discussion
The present study aimed to explore whether the presence of an ASD diagnosis in either the defendant or complainant influenced the decision-making of jurors. First, we sought to determine whether jurors were more or less likely to pass a guilty verdict for cases involving individuals with high functioning ASD. Results indicated that the proportion of guilt verdicts remained relatively constant across all conditions. Reported scores of Defendant and Complainant Believability also remained similar
Limitations and directions for future research
The present study was one of the first to examine the influence of complainant ASD on juror decision-making, however, it was not without its limitations. Berryessa (2014) highlighted the role that the media plays in reinforcing negative stereotypical views of individuals with ASD within the general population. The present study did not determine what exposure participants had to individuals with ASD and whether this influenced their attitudes towards them; nor did the experiment attempt to
Summary
The present study attempted to determine whether the presence of high functioning ASD amongst defendants or claimants could, in any way, impact how jurors reached their decisions within cases of rape. The findings indicate that juror decision-making was not influenced by the presence of such diagnoses and suggest that the verdicts for rape cases remain uninfluenced by such information. However, the present study offers a rudimentary step into exploring juror decision-making for cases involving
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