Insanity defense for all? The Arab minority in Israel's psychiatric and legal systems

Abstract

Objectives

Minorities are often discriminated against by law enforcement. This finding also applies also to the Arab minority in Israel; however, despite extensive research on this topic, only a few studies have examined this bias with regard to psychiatric opinions and judicial decisions on criminal responsibility and the ability to stand trial. This study addresses this bias in its analysis of such opinions and rulings among homicide defendants referred to psychiatric evaluation.

Design

The participants were all the 137 homicide defendants (95 Jews and 42 Arabs) hospitalized in Israeli maximum-security units for psychiatric evaluation or treatment between 1997 and 2021.

Results

A significant relationship was found between the defendant's ethnicity and the evaluation and ruling: half of the defendants deemed fit to stand trial were Jews, while most of those deemed unfit were Jews at a disproportionate rate. In most cases, the court ruling was consistent with the psychiatric opinions, over 98 % of which were provided by Jewish psychiatrists. The low number of Arab psychiatrists prevented examination of the effect of interaction between their ethnicity and the defendants' ethnicity on their opinions.

Conclusion

Three potential explanations for these results are discussed: a true gap between the populations, a lack of cultural competence, and intergroup bias. The implications include the recommendation to train more Arab psychiatrists and enhance the cultural competence of law enforcement officials.