A quarter of women and 11% of men report being survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) during their lifetimes in the United States. Despite being victims themselves, people who kill their IPV abuser can still be subject to criminal proceedings. Given this complexity, the law has employed battered spouse syndrome (BSS) as a tool used in some jurisdictions to support a claim that an IPV survivor killed in self-defense. A defendant who is attempting to claim self-defense using BSS may introduce testimony of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, a diagnosis of PTSD can pose problems in admission during litigation as the occurrence of a traumatic event is often what is being decided. The present study examined how college students, living on the U.S.-México border, perceive survivors-turned-defendants in a BSS mock trial. Specifically, we had each participant read a written trial transcript of a mock trial where gender of the defendant and clinical diagnosis of PTSD were manipulated. The current study hypothesized that jurors would be more lenient toward female defendants than male defendants ( Hypothesis 1), jurors would be influenced by a PTSD diagnosis of the defendant ( Hypothesis 2a–b), and female jurors would be more lenient than male jurors ( Hypothesis 3). We also wanted to examine the impact of victim blaming, sexism, stigma of PTSD, and prior exposure to IPV on decision-making ( Hypothesis 4a–d). Findings showed jurors were more lenient with female defendants than male defendants, however there was no effect of clinical diagnosis except on difficulty of decision. Implications of the role defendant gender has in decision-making is discussed.

中文翻译：

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被告性别和 PTSD 诊断在受虐配偶案件中的作用


在美国，四分之一的女性和 11% 的男性表示在其一生中曾是亲密伴侣暴力 (IPV) 的幸存者。尽管杀害 IPV 滥用者的人本身就是受害者，但仍可能受到刑事诉讼。鉴于这种复杂性，法律采用受虐配偶综合症 (BSS) 作为某些司法管辖区使用的工具来支持 IPV 幸存者因自卫而杀人的主张。试图使用 BSS 进行自卫的被告可能会提供创伤后应激障碍 (PTSD) 的证词。然而，PTSD 的诊断可能会给诉讼期间的入院带来问题，因为创伤事件的发生通常是决定的。本研究调查了生活在美墨边境的大学生如何看待 BSS 模拟审判中的幸存者变成被告。具体来说，我们让每个参与者阅读模拟审判的书面审判记录，其中被告的性别和 PTSD 的临床诊断被操纵。目前的研究假设陪审员对女性被告人会比男性被告人更加宽容（假设1），陪审员会受到被告人PTSD诊断的影响（假设2a-b），并且女性陪审员会比男性陪审员更加宽容（假设1）。假设3）。我们还想研究受害者指责、性别歧视、创伤后应激障碍 (PTSD) 的耻辱以及之前接触 IPV 对决策的影响（假设 4a-d）。调查结果显示陪审员对女性被告比男性被告更宽容，但除了决定难度之外，临床诊断没有任何影响。讨论了被告性别在决策中的作用的影响。