Expert witness testimony in jury verdicts when battered women kill

<p>The purposes of this investigation were to (a) explore the relationship between jury verdicts when traumatic brain injury expert testimony is provided and (b) examine the relationship between the verdicts when battered women syndrome expert witness testimony is provided, in Rowan University undergraduate students (N = 100). Students were provided with experimental packets, read a mock legal case, answered four questionnaires, and conducted a mock jury deliberation. Students indicated their verdicts were of lesser severity when there was traumatic brain injury expert witness testimony when compared to battered women syndrome expert witness testimony. Analysis of variance statistics indicated that expert witness testimony of traumatic brain injury was more likely to result in not guilty verdicts, whereas expert witness testimony of battered women syndrome was more likely to result in not guilty, by reason of insanity verdicts. Implications of the types of expert witness testimonies provided when battered women kill their abusers are discussed.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. in Mental Health Counseling and Applied Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2008

Author dc:creator

• Sheikh, Asma

Contributors dc:contributor

• Gaer, Eleanor

• Battered woman syndrome; Evidence, Expert
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/758

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rdw.rowan.edu:etd-1755