Citation

Taylor M, Kaplan T, Mulvey P, Miller MK. Int. J. Law Psychiatry 2019; 66: e101474.

Affiliation

1664 N. Virginia Mail Stop 214, Criminal Justice Department, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, United States of America. Electronic address: mkmiller@unr.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijlp.2019.101474

PMID

31706382

Abstract

Justice involved youth who present with diagnosable mental health issues are commonly prosecuted in criminal courts. Limited research has examined how jurors perceive and respond to transferred juveniles with mental health issues. For the current study, 252 mock jurors were randomly assigned to read one of six profiles (i.e., White male, White female, Black male, Black female, Latino, and Latina) and report culpability, deserved punishment, behavior regulation, and dangerousness for juveniles diagnosed with conduct disorder, major depressive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, and described with antisocial traits/behaviors. A schizophrenia diagnosis was associated with less blame, punishment, and capacity for behavior regulation. A description of antisocial traits/behaviors was associated with more blame, punishment, capacity for behavior regulation, and dangerousness. White juveniles described with antisocial traits were considered more blameworthy and deserving of punishment than Latinos. Considering the temporary nature of adolescent antisocial personality characteristics, jurors should have greater awareness of the maturation process.

Keywords: Juvenile justice

Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Language: en

Keywords

Gender; Juror decision-making; Juvenile offenders; Mental health; Race