Najdowski Cynthia J, Bottoms Bette L, Vargas Maria C
Behav Sci Law. 2009 May-Jun;27(3):401-30. doi: 10.1002/bsl.873.
Understanding jurors' perceptions of juvenile defendants has become increasingly important as more and more juvenile cases are being tried in adult criminal court rather than family or juvenile court. Intellectual disability and child maltreatment are overrepresented among juvenile delinquents, and juveniles (particularly disabled juveniles) are at heightened risk for falsely confessing to crimes. In two mock trial experiments, we examined the effects of disability, abuse history, and confession evidence on jurors' perceptions of a juvenile defendant across several different crime scenarios. Abused juveniles were treated more leniently than nonabused juveniles only when the juvenile's crime was motivated by self-defense against the abuser. Jurors used disability as a mitigating factor, making more lenient judgments for a disabled than a nondisabled juvenile. Jurors also completely discounted a coerced confession for a disabled juvenile, but not for a nondisabled juvenile. In fact, compared with when it was portrayed as voluntary, jurors generally discounted a juvenile's coerced confession. Implications for public policy and directions for future research are discussed.
随着越来越多的少年案件在成人刑事法庭而非家庭或少年法庭进行审判，了解陪审员对少年被告的看法变得越来越重要。智力残疾和儿童虐待在少年犯罪者中占比过高，并且青少年（尤其是残疾青少年）虚假认罪的风险更高。在两项模拟审判实验中，我们研究了残疾、虐待史和认罪证据对陪审员在几种不同犯罪场景中对少年被告看法的影响。只有当少年的犯罪动机是出于对施虐者的自卫时，受虐待的少年才会比未受虐待的少年得到更宽大的对待。陪审员将残疾作为一个减轻罪责的因素，对残疾少年的判决比对非残疾少年更宽大。陪审员也完全忽视了残疾少年的逼供，但对非残疾少年则不然。事实上，与将其描述为自愿认罪相比，陪审员通常会忽视少年的逼供。本文还讨论了对公共政策的影响以及未来研究的方向。
