Does a jury’s views of a defendant change when they are told about a DLD diagnosis?

Citation

Horsham, J., Maras, K., Stanton Fraser, D., Barker, E., Hobson, H. M., & St Clair, M. C. (2025). Mock Juror Perceptions of a Young Defendant With Developmental Language Disorder: A Mixed‐Methods Study. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 60(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.70060

Key terms that are in this paper

· Defendant: someone that has been accused of a crime within the court system.

· Jury: a group of people in court that help decide if someone is guilty of a crime.

Aim of the paper

· Lots of young offenders have language difficulties. Many have undiagnosed DLD.

· In court, it may not be obvious that a defendant has language difficulties.

· This is important because it may impact how a jury looks at the defendant.

· This study looked at whether people’s opinion is different when they know that a defendant has DLD.

· The study looked at people’s judgement of the defendant’s personality and thinking skills. It also looked at how guilty they thought the offender was.

What was found

· Participants acting as jurors saw the defendant as more trustworthy when they were told about a DLD diagnosis.

· The defendant was also seen as less guilty.

· Participants who knew about a defendant’s diagnosis had more empathy for them.

· The jurors paid more attention to the ways that the defendant’s communication difficulties might impact their actions when they knew about the DLD diagnosis.

What does this mean?

· This study shows that jurors’ views of a defendant changes when they know about the defendant’s diagnosis.

· Knowing about a defendant’s diagnosis may help the jury to better understand their actions.

· For example, the jury may pay more attention to their communication difficulties.

· In real life, a jury should be told about a defendant’s DLD diagnosis. This could help them better understand the defendant’s actions.

Where can I read this paper?

You can access the full paper by following this link: https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.70060

Credits to: Kimi Costello