Myths, Mental Illness, and the Insanity Defense
Project Author
Issue Date
2025-03-31
Authors
Chow, Emma
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First Reader
Normile, Christopher
Additional Readers
Frambes, Nancy
Keywords
jury decision-making , insanity defense , mental illness
Distribution
Abstract
There has been a lot of research investigating the relationship between jury decision-making and the insanity defense. Some research has also investigated the relationship between mental illness and jury decision-making. However, there is limited research on how belief in mental illness myths and insanity defense myths affect jury decision making. There is no research to date that incorporates all four of these concepts and how they affect jury decision-making. The purpose of this study was to address the gaps in the literature surrounding this issue. 53 participants completed the insanity defense myths survey followed by the attitudes towards mental illness survey. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of six trial summaries. After reading the summary, they were asked to provide a verdict (guilty, not guilty, or not guilty by reason of insanity). Results revealed no statistically significant findings in this study regarding the presence and type of mental illness on verdict. There were also no statistically significant results regarding how belief in insanity defense myths or how belief in mental illness myths affect verdict. Future research should investigate how having multiple participants deliberate the verdict could change the outcome of these results. Future research should also investigate how the closeness of a person with a mental illness to the participant could impact the results.
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Major
Psychology
Department
Psychology
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Version
Honors
Psychology, 2025