Juror decision-making in cases of rape involving high functioning Autistic persons

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Highlights

  • A between-groups design experiment was used to examine the effects of ASD diagnoses within rape cases on juror decision-making.

  • The majority of participants returned a guilty verdict (56.72–69.12%). Results found that female jurors were more likely than male jurors to return a guilty verdict when the complainant had a diagnosis of high-functioning ASD.

  • Complainant and defendant believability scores could significantly predict verdict outcome within most conditions. The only exception was in the complainant ASD condition, where complainant believability had no significant association with the final verdict given. .

  • Overall findings suggest that juror decision-making within cases of alleged rape do not seem to be dramatically influenced by ASD diagnoses.

Abstract

Despite a plethora of research examining juror decision-making within cases of rape, very few studies have attempted to examine how the presence of a developmental disorder within a case can impact jurors' decisions. Research shows that individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are sometimes perceived more negatively (i.e. unempathetic) due to stigmatising beliefs associated with ASD. Thus, the present study sought to examine whether individuals with ASD would be treated differently by jurors in court. Using mock-juror paradigms (N = 204) the present study aimed to explore whether the presence of high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) amongst either the defendant or claimant influenced juror decisions (guilt verdict, confidence in verdict, and believability towards the defendant and claimant) in cases of rape. The presence of ASD amongst either party failed to have an impact on juror decision-making and final guilt verdicts. However, female participants were more likely to believe the complainant than their male counterparts. Implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed.

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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