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Reducing "psychopath" labeling effects in capital sentencing
Thesis   Open access

Reducing "psychopath" labeling effects in capital sentencing

Jaymes Fairfax-Columbo
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Sep 2017
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/D80H2B
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Abstract

Psychology, Pathological Capital punishment--Decision making Psychological tests Psychology
To prevent the arbitrary imposition of the death penalty, the United States Supreme Court has long held that jurors must be provided with guidelines to help them narrow down the class of individuals who are eligible for capital punishment. One way in which jurisdictions accomplish this is to require a finding of one or more aggravating circumstances. A handful of jurisdictions list future dangerousness as one such aggravating factor. The presence of psychopathy is often used as a proxy for future dangerousness, and scores on Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) are often utilized as evidence of psychopathy in United States courts. In capital contexts, offenders labeled as "psychopaths" or attributed psychopathic traits are significantly more likely to receive a sentence of death than offenders not labeled as such or attributed such traits. However, this "labeling effect" is problematic given that the PCL-R is at best only a weak predictor of institutional violence. In light of this concern, this study sought to explore ways to combat "psychopath" labeling effects in capital contexts utilizing jury instructions and teaching expert testimony, specifically by attempting to provide jurors with a more well-rounded understanding of psychopathy, as well as providing jurors with information on the limitations of the PCL-R in predicting future dangerousness for capital offenders. Findings did not support the existence of a psychopathy labeling effect.

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