Battered Women Who Kill

Abstract

Mock jurors (N = 312) viewed a simulated trial involving a woman, charged with the murder of her abusive husband, entering a plea of not guilty by reason of self-defense. Expert testimony was varied using battered woman syndrome, social agency framework, or no expert testimony. Within expert testimony conditions, jurors were presented with opening and closing statements either including or not including instructions aimed at inducing empathy. Results indicate differences in gender and expert testimony for ratings of guilt as well as differences in gender, expert testimony, and empathy induction for perceptions of the defendant.

The Relationship Between Empathy and Stringency of Punishment in Mock Jurors

“…This supported the hypothesis that increasing levels of empathy were associated with decreasing levels of stringency of punishment. The current findings also support the conclusions from the studies by Haegerich and Bottoms (2000) and Plumm and Terrance (2009), which both concluded that empathy plays a role when it comes to the decision making of jurors in court cases. In addition, it was found that increasing levels in each of the empathic subscales of perspective taking and empathic concern were associated with decreasing levels of stringency of punishment.…”

“…In other words, this study builds on the already established research that has highlighted the importance of empathy in jury decision making (e.g., Garvey, 2000;Haegerich & Bottoms, 2000;Plumm & Terrance, 2009;Sundby, 2003). However, it also expanded the current research by showing that individual differences in empathy among mock jurors affected their sentencing decisions.…”

“…For example, both Haegerich and Bottoms (2000) and Plumm and Terrance (2009) each manipulated the court case in order to create two different conditions, one low in induced empathy and one high in induced empathy. However, no current study has attempted to study empathy and juror decision making from an individual difference perspective.…”

“…Furthermore, a study by Plumm and Terrance (2009) had the aim of evaluating the impact of induced-empathy in a case involving a woman who killed her abusive partner and entered a plea of not guilty by reason of self-defense. Here it was demonstrated that empathy played a role in the jury's perception of the woman.…”

“…Earlier research has demonstrated that jurors who are presented with statements that are aimed at inducing empathy among the jurors report changed perceptions of the defendant (Plumm & Terrance, 2009). Also, mock jurors in an induced-empathy condition found the defendant to be less guilty and less responsible compared to mock jurors in a control condition (Haegerich & Bottoms, 2000).…”