Barnett Kacey May, Woodfield Russell, Conlon Rachel A
School of Psychology, Leeds Trinity University, Leeds LS18 5HD, UK.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Jun 12;15(6):803. doi: 10.3390/bs15060803.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether juror characteristics, namely, age, attitudes surrounding coercive control and psychopathic personality traits (PPT), can influence Guilty or Not Guilty verdicts in a developed coercive control trial. One hundred and thirty-five participants (N = 135) completed an online survey consisting of elements of a mock coercive control trial and three questionnaires: the Coercive Control subsection of the Modern Adolescent Dating Violence Attitudes (MADVA (CC)) Scale, the Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale-Revised (PPTS-R) and the Juror Decision Scale (JDS). The results of the analysis demonstrated significant positive correlations between MADVA (CC) scores and all four subscales of the PPTS-R, highlighting the relationship between psychopathy traits and coercive control attitudes. Binary logistic regression findings showed that higher scores on the MADVA (CC) Scale were the only significant predictor of returning a Not Guilty verdict. Those who also returned a Not Guilty verdict had more accepting controlling behaviour attitudes, scored higher for defendant believability and were less confident in their overall decision. Findings from the current study highlight the significance of attitudes in a juror decision-making context. The significance of attitudes may also be applicable to police officers and other agencies within the criminal justice system. Additional efforts need to be made regarding the identification of coercive control tactics, and training programmes should be implemented within the police to increase identification of these behaviours in order and to improve case progression. This may increase the likelihood of a jury being required in these cases. Furthermore, Not Guilty verdicts were given with significantly less confidence than Guilty verdicts, although they have the same influence at trial. More research needs to be carried out to explore the development and maintenance of accepting attitudes towards coercive control, and there is a need for better education regarding coercive control to attempt to tackle harmful attitudes towards it and aim for fairer trials.
本研究的目的是调查陪审员特征，即年龄、围绕强制控制的态度和精神病态人格特质（PPT），是否会在一场精心设计的强制控制审判中影响有罪或无罪判决。135名参与者（N = 135）完成了一项在线调查，该调查包括模拟强制控制审判的要素以及三份问卷：现代青少年约会暴力态度（MADVA（CC））量表的强制控制子量表、修订后的精神病态人格特质量表（PPTS-R）和陪审员决策量表（JDS）。分析结果表明，MADVA（CC）得分与PPTS-R的所有四个子量表之间存在显著的正相关，突出了精神病态特质与强制控制态度之间的关系。二元逻辑回归结果显示，MADVA（CC）量表得分较高是做出无罪判决的唯一显著预测因素。那些也做出无罪判决的人对控制行为态度更宽容，对被告可信度评分更高，并且对自己的总体决定信心较低。当前研究结果突出了态度在陪审员决策背景中的重要性。态度的重要性可能也适用于警察和刑事司法系统内的其他机构。在识别强制控制策略方面需要做出更多努力，并且应该在警察部门实施培训计划以提高对这些行为的识别能力从而改善案件进展。这可能会增加在这些案件中需要陪审团的可能性。此外，尽管无罪判决在审判中的影响与有罪判决相同，但做出无罪判决的信心明显低于有罪判决。需要开展更多研究来探索对强制控制持宽容态度的形成和维持，并且需要对强制控制进行更好的教育以试图解决对其有害的态度并实现更公平的审判。
