Psychopathic traits predict attitudes toward a juvenile capital murderer
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of PsychiatryDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2003-12-30Keywords
AdolescentAdult
Antisocial Personality Disorder
*Attitude
Ethnic Groups
Female
*Homicide
Humans
Male
Prospective Studies
Questionnaires
*Social Perception
Health Services Research
Mental and Social Health
Psychiatric and Mental Health
Psychiatry
Psychiatry and Psychology
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The current study manipulated the presence/:absence of psychopathic traits and the ethnicity (Black/:White) of a juvenile capital murderer to examine their impact on layperson attitudes regarding what types of legal sanction were appropriate. Participants (N=360) reviewed a newspaper article concerning a death row inmate who was appealing his sentence primarily based on the fact that he committed the crime when he was 16 years of age. Compared to those in the control condition, those who read a scenario in which the defendant had been described at trial as exhibiting psychopathic traits (e.g. remorselessness, pathological lying) were significantly more likely to support a death sentence and less likely to believe he should receive any treatment in prison. Moreover, participant ratings of the extent to which they believed the defendant exhibited prototypically psychopathic traits (regardless of whether they were in the psychopathy or control condition) also significantly predicted these criterion measures. Ethnic status was relatively less influential, although participants were somewhat more punitive towards a Black defendant than a White defendant when considering the relevance of possible mitigating factors (e.g. history of sexual abuse).Source
Behav Sci Law. 2003;21(6):807-28. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1002/bsl.567Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/45230PubMed ID
14696032Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1002/bsl.567