Effects of Jurors’ Gender and Attitudes toward Intellectual Disability on Judgments for Disabled Juvenile Defendants

Authors

Cynthia J. Najdowski, University at Albany, State University of New YorkFollow
Bette L. Bottoms, The University of Illinois at Chicago

Author ORCID Identifier

Cynthia Najdowski: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3624-9188

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-19-2014

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2015.1017592

Abstract

Because many juvenile offenders are intellectually disabled and have their cases tried by jurors in adult criminal court, it is important to understand factors that influence jurors’ judgments in such cases. Using a mock trial methodology, we explored the relations among jurors’ gender, attitudes toward intellectual disability, and judgments in a criminal case involving an intellectually disabled 15-year-old girl accused of murder. Men mock jurors’ judgments were not influenced by their preexisting biases, but women's were: the more women favored special treatment for disabled offenders, the less likely they were to suspect the disabled juvenile was guilty and the less likely they were to convict her. Implications for actual cases involving disabled juvenile defendants are discussed.

Comments

Publisher Acknowledgement:

This is the Author’s Original Manuscript. The version of the record appears here: Najdowski, C. J., & Bottoms, B. L. (2015). Effects of jurors’ gender and attitudes toward intellectual disability on judgments in cases involving disabled juvenile defendants. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 26, 407-424. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2015.1017592

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Recommended Citation

Najdowski, Cynthia J. and Bottoms, Bette L., "Effects of Jurors’ Gender and Attitudes toward Intellectual Disability on Judgments for Disabled Juvenile Defendants" (2014). Psychology Faculty Scholarship. 13.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/psychology_fac_scholar/13