Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Insanity defense--Public opinion; Responsibility--Public opinion; Free will and determinism--Public opinion; Sentences (Criminal procedure)--Public opinion;
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine how individual differences in stigma against people who are mentally ill, free will beliefs, just world beliefs, and sentencing goals are associated with attitudes toward the insanity defense. Because there are many misconceptions about what the insanity defense is, and how it is actually used as a sentence, the Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) plea may be underutilized due to public opinions reflecting misunderstanding and/or possible biases (Perlin, 2017). Understanding the relation between individual beliefs and attitudes about the insanity defense would help to better understand potential biases present in a court setting (e.g., juror opinion). The present study hypothesizes that people who had greater stigma toward the mentally ill, greater belief in free-will, greater belief in a just world, and sentencing goals leaning toward retribution/punitiveness would have more negative attitudes towards the insanity defense. A bootstrapped hierarchical regression was run to test this hypothesis and found that the variables of stigma (b= .340, p=.001, 95% BCa CH [.268, .420]), free will beliefs (b= .538, p=.002, 95% BCa CH [.242, .815]), and sentencing goals (b= .420, p=.001, 95% BCa CH [.324, .504]) were significant predictors of attitudes toward the insanity defense in the expected direction. These results support the hypothesis and indicate that greater stigma against the mentally ill, greater free-will beliefs, and more punitive sentencing goals are associated with more negative attitudes toward the insanity defense. Legal and clinical implications of these results are discussed.
Keywords: Insanity Defense, Stigma, Moral Responsibility, Free-will, Sentencing, Belief in a Just World
Year of Submission
2021
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Psychology
First Advisor
Nicholas Schwab, Chair
Date Original
5-2021
Object Description
1 PDF file (viii, 79 pages)
Copyright
©2021 Dominique M. Kornely
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Kornely, Dominique M., "Examining individual differences in attitudes toward the insanity defense" (2021). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 1096.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/1096