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Judicial Stereotyping Associated with Genetic Essentialist Biases toward Mental Disorders and Potential Negative Effects on Sentencing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Colleen M. Berryessa Open the ORCID record for Colleen M. Berryessa [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract

This research, utilizing qualitative methodology with grounded theory, develops a model that illuminates a process by which judicial stereotyping associated with genetic essentialist biases toward mental disorders may affect judges' views regarding the sentencing and punishment of offenders with mental disorder diagnoses presented or understood to be genetically influenced. Data, collected through interviews with a sample of 59 Pennsylvania State Court judges, suggest that judges exhibit stereotyping behavior by linking the relationships between three particular genetic essentialist biases (immutability, informativeness, uniformity) and three types of stigmatization (pessimism, dangerousness, family stigma) associated with each bias. When judges exhibited this stereotyping behavior without the effects of intervening conditions, they then expressed how knowledge of the genetic influences of an offender's mental disorder would negatively influence views on punishment, specifically related to more restrictive sentences and support for deterrence and incapacitation. Three intervening conditions associated with judges' personal characteristics (personal experiences involving genetics, strength of determinism vs. free will beliefs, having no personal experiences with mental disorders) influenced whether judges' sentencing views were negatively influenced by such knowledge on genetics. Implications related to therapeutic jurisprudence are discussed.

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Articles
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Law & Society Review , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 202 - 238
Copyright
© 2018 Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

This research was supported by the John Templeton Foundation Genetics and Human Agency Initiative. My very special thanks and acknowledgments to Fortuna Hau and Laura Mutis who provided superb aid during this project. A previous version of this manuscript was a part of a doctoral dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania.

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