Gender Differences in Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity Defense Cases

The purpose of the research is to look at gender differences in jury decisions that are made in not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) defense cases. Jury decisions are important in our justice system, and gender differences... [ view full abstract ]

The purpose of the research is to look at gender differences in jury decisions that are made in not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) defense cases. Jury decisions are important in our justice system, and gender differences are apparent in every day life. The importance of this study is to evaluate potential bias within jury decisions that could be related to gender distinctions. We are looking at the gender of the jury members, as well as the gender of the defendants and how they are correlated. The first component of the survey examines attitudes towards the insanity defense, in order to get a feel for the participants’ prior perceptions of the NGRI defense. The second component of the study introduces different scenes where participants read cases where defendants of both genders are on trial. After the participants read each of the vignettes, they then respond to questions pertaining to each case individually. The goal is to find out if there are gender discrepancies within jury decisions when the NGRI defense is involved, and how these differences emerge for each case.

This research incorporates The Ribbons of Excellence by integrating the Crossing boundaries and disciplines ribbon. The legal system is extremely interdisciplinary. There are various components of each aspect of the law that involve other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, philosophy and many more. I wanted to incorporate both Criminal Justice and Psychology disciplines. The incorporation of gender within the two disciplines adds a component that ties the research to everyday life, and also presents as a pressing issue currently in our society.