Mock juror perceptions of credibility and culpability in an autistic defendant 2018

One-hundred-and-sixty-one jury-eligible participants read a vignette describing a male who was brought to the attention of police for suspicious and aggressive behaviours and displayed atypical behaviours in court. Half of participants were informed that the defendant had ASD and were given background information about ASD; the other half received no diagnostic label or information. The provision of a label and information led to higher ratings of the defendant’s honesty and likeability, reduced blameworthiness, fewer guilty verdicts, and more lenient sentencing. Thematic analysis revealed that participants in the label condition were more empathetic and attributed his behaviours to his ASD and external factors, while participants in the No label condition perceived the defendant as deceitful, unremorseful, inappropriate and aggressive.

Keywords:
autism spectrum disorders, defendants, credibility, culpability, likability, honesty, perceptions, jurors, criminal justice system

Cite this dataset as:
Maras, K., 2018. Mock juror perceptions of credibility and culpability in an autistic defendant 2018. UK Data Service. Available from: https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-853314.

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Creators

Katie Maras
University of Bath

Contributors

University of Bath
Rights Holder

Coverage

Collection date(s):

From 11 January 2018 to 28 February 2018

Geographical coverage:

United Kingdom

Documentation

Data collection method:

The study employed a between-participants survey design whereby mock jurors were randomly assigned to one of two label conditions: ‘Label+info’, in which mock jurors were informed that the defendant was autistic and were given further information about the condition and how the individual was affected by it; or ‘No label’ in which no diagnosis or information about ASD was provided. All participants completed the study on the online Qualtrics data system. More information is given in the 'Methods' file.

Funders

Economic and Social Research Council
https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000269

ESRC Future Research Leaders - Reporting by People with Autism: A New Evidence Based Supportive Model of Information Gathering for Applied Interviews Contexts
ES/N001095/1

Publication details

Publication date: 13 September 2018
by: UK Data Service

Version: 1

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-853314

URL for this record: https://researchdata.bath.ac.uk/id/eprint/1027

Contact information

Please contact the Research Data Service in the first instance for all matters concerning this item.

Contact person: Katie Maras

Departments:

Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Psychology

Research Centres & Institutes
Centre for Applied Autism Research