Juror Characteristics and Decision Making in a Developed Coercive Control Case.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether juror characteristics, namely, age, attitudes surrounding coercive control and psychopathic personality traits (PPT), can influence Guilty or Not Guilty verdicts in a developed coercive control trial. One hundred and thirty-five participants (N = 135) completed an online survey consisting of elements of a mock coercive control trial and three questionnaires: the Coercive Control subsection of the Modern Adolescent Dating Violence Attitudes (MADVA (CC)) Scale, the Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale-Revised (PPTS-R) and the Juror Decision Scale (JDS). The results of the analysis demonstrated significant positive correlations between MADVA (CC) scores and all four subscales of the PPTS-R, highlighting the relationship between psychopathy traits and coercive control attitudes. Binary logistic regression findings showed that higher scores on the MADVA (CC) Scale were the only significant predictor of returning a Not Guilty verdict. Those who also returned a Not Guilty verdict had more accepting controlling behaviour attitudes, scored higher for defendant believability and were less confident in their overall decision. Findings from the current study highlight the significance of attitudes in a juror decision-making context. The significance of attitudes may also be applicable to police officers and other agencies within the criminal justice system. Additional efforts need to be made regarding the identification of coercive control tactics, and training programmes should be implemented within the police to increase identification of these behaviours in order and to improve case progression. This may increase the likelihood of a jury being required in these cases. Furthermore, Not Guilty verdicts were given with significantly less confidence than Guilty verdicts, although they have the same influence at trial. More research needs to be carried out to explore the development and maintenance of accepting attitudes towards coercive control, and there is a need for better education regarding coercive control to attempt to tackle harmful attitudes towards it and aim for fairer trials.