Perceptions of bias and credibility of male and female clinical psychologist and psychiatrist expert witnesses presenting clinical information in the courtroom.

Autor: Kipoulas E; Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Therapies, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK., Edwards I; UEA Law School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom. Electronic address: i.edwards@uea.ac.uk., Radakovic R; Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Therapies, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK; Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK., Beazley PI; Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Therapies, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom. Electronic address: p.beazley@uea.ac.uk.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: International journal of law and psychiatry [Int J Law Psychiatry] 2024 Sep-Oct; Vol. 96, pp. 102016. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 29.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2024.102016
Abstrakt: Expert witness credentials and gender have independently been shown to influence jurors' perceptions of expert witness credibility and legal decision-making. This study examined how manipulations of expert witness gender (Male/Female) and profession (Consultant Clinical Psychologist/Consultant Psychiatrist) together affected mock jurors' perceptions of expert witness credibility, judgements, and decision-making. Mock jurors (N = 182; 80.9 % were White) were recruited from England and Wales and were randomly assigned to watch a video-recorded mock expert witness testimony. Participants rated the expert witness using the Witness Credibility Scale and reported the likelihood of assigning the defendant to a guilty verdict. Results showed significant interaction effects of expert witness gender and profession on jurors' perceptions of their likeability, trustworthiness, knowledge, and total credibility. Male psychiatrists, followed by female clinical psychologists, received the highest scores in most credibility variables. Varied main effects of expert witness gender and profession on credibility were also found. Overall, jurors' ratings of expert witness credibility, when controlled by the expert's gender and profession, predicted jurors' determination of guilt. This study provides evidence of a potential interaction effect between profession and gender in expert witness credibility and supports existing research linking credibility with ultimate decision-making. More research is needed to understand jurors' unconscious biases and cognitive processes in making legal decisions.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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