Yourstone Jenny, Lindholm Torun, Grann Martin, Svenson Ola
Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden.
Nord J Psychiatry. 2008;62(4):273-8. doi: 10.1080/08039480801963135.
Forensic psychiatric decision-making plays a key role in the legal process of homicide cases. Research show that women defendants have a higher likelihood of being declared legally insane and being diverted to hospital. This study attempted to explore if this gender difference is explained by biases in the forensic psychiatric assessments. Participants were 45 practicing forensic psychiatric clinicians, 46 chief judges and 80 psychology students. Participants received a written vignette describing a homicide case, with either a female or a male perpetrator. The results suggested strong gender effects on legal insanity judgements. Forensic psychiatric clinicians and psychology students assessed the case information as more indicative of legal insanity if the perpetrator was a woman than a man. Judges assessed offenders of their own gender, as they were more likely to be declared legally insane than a perpetrator of the opposite gender. Implications of and possible ways to minimize such gender biases in forensic psychiatric evaluations need to be thoroughly considered by the legal system.
法医精神病学决策在杀人案件的法律程序中起着关键作用。研究表明，女性被告被判定为法律上精神错乱并被转至医院的可能性更高。本研究试图探讨这种性别差异是否可以通过法医精神病学评估中的偏见来解释。参与者包括45名执业法医精神病学临床医生、46名首席法官和80名心理学专业学生。参与者收到一份描述杀人案件的书面案例，犯罪者要么是女性，要么是男性。结果表明，在法律精神错乱判断上存在强烈的性别效应。如果犯罪者是女性，法医精神病学临床医生和心理学专业学生认为案例信息更能表明存在法律上的精神错乱。法官评估与自己同性别的犯罪者，因为他们比异性犯罪者更有可能被判定为法律上精神错乱。法律系统需要全面考虑法医精神病学评估中此类性别偏见的影响以及将其最小化的可能方法。
