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The Role of Death Qualification in Venirepersons' Attitudes Toward the Insanity Defense 1
Author(s) -
Butler Brooke,
Wasserman Adina W.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00079.x
Subject(s) - verdict , capital punishment , insanity , psychology , insanity defense , sentence , likert scale , social psychology , law , psychiatry , criminology , developmental psychology , political science , linguistics , philosophy
Three hundred venirepersons from the 12 th Judicial Circuit in Florida completed a booklet of stimulus materials that contained the following: one question that specified participants' level of support for the death penalty; one Witt death‐qualification question; a case scenario that included a summary of the guilt and penalty phases of a capital case; verdict and sentencing preferences; a 16‐item measure that required participants to rate their receptiveness to the insanity defense on a 6‐point Likert scale; and standard demographic questions. Results indicated that death‐qualified venirepersons, when compared to excludables, were more likely to endorse certain insanity myths, find the defendant guilty, and sentence the defendant to death. Legal implications are discussed.