Haegerich T M, Bottoms B L
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
Law Hum Behav. 2000 Aug;24(4):421-48. doi: 10.1023/a:1005592213294.
In a mock-trial paradigm, 205 participants considered a patricide trial in which a child defendant claimed the patricide was done in self-defense after years of sexual abuse. Participants in an empathy-induction condition were asked to take the perspective of the defendant and to detail how they would be thinking and feeling if they were the defendant. Control condition participants received no such instructions. Results indicated that, compared to jurors in the control condition, jurors who were asked to take the defendant's perspective had more empathy for the defendant (without feeling more similar to or more sympathy for the defendant), found the defendant less guilty and less responsible for the murder, and were more likely to consider abuse to be a mitigating factor in the killing. Overall, compared to men, women were more likely to believe the defendant's abuse allegations, find the defendant credible, and consider the defendant to be less responsible for the murder. Women in the empathy condition found the defendant less guilty than did all other jurors. Finally, child defendant gender was also varied, but this had few effects on case judgments overall. Jurors, however, were more likely to believe that the girl defendant was sexually abused than the boy defendant. We discuss theoretical implications for understanding the social psychological construct of empathy as well as implications for understanding jurors' decisions in cases involving child sexual assault allegations.
在一个模拟审判范式中，205名参与者审议了一起弑父案审判，案中一名儿童被告称弑父行为是在多年性虐待后出于自卫所为。处于共情诱导条件下的参与者被要求从被告的角度出发，并详细说明如果他们是被告会如何思考和感受。对照组的参与者没有收到此类指示。结果表明，与对照组的陪审员相比，被要求从被告角度出发的陪审员对被告有更多的共情（但并不觉得与被告更相似或更同情被告），认为被告对谋杀罪行的罪责和责任更小，并且更有可能将虐待视为杀人案中的一个减轻罪责的因素。总体而言，与男性相比，女性更有可能相信被告关于虐待的指控，认为被告可信，并认为被告对谋杀罪行的责任更小。处于共情条件下的女性陪审员认为被告的罪责比所有其他陪审员都小。最后，儿童被告的性别也有所不同，但总体上对案件判决影响不大。然而，陪审员更有可能相信女童被告遭受了性虐待，而不是男童被告。我们讨论了理解共情这一社会心理结构的理论意义，以及理解陪审员在涉及儿童性侵犯指控案件中的决策的意义。
