Mental Illness and Perceived Legal Responsibility

Briana Marin

Co-Presenters: Individual Presentation

College: College of Liberal Arts

Major: MA.FORENSIC-PSY

Faculty Research Mentor: Doyle, Christine  

Abstract:

AbstractMental illness is a multifaceted and complex topic that presents itself in many facets of life. It can gravely affect decision-making, livelihoods and the way one is perceived in society. Mental illness is a multilayered element presented during sentencing in the justice system, especially through the lens of the perception from the public. Mental illness has grown to be a concerning issue in society, where it is continuously being taken into account for criminal responsibility and culpability in many cases. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the participants' perception on determining criminal responsibility for forensic cases presented with mental illness.The participants in this study will be given an online survey that consists of 4 detailed case studies of the crime and mental illness of the offender. By targeting participants with a range of diverse backgrounds, different perspectives on topics of mental illness within forensic cases will be obtained. This will help achieve an heterogeneous pool of informed opinions given the information of each case study. This online survey will be conducted through Qualtrics. The potential goal of this study is to determine the public’s perception on criminal responsibility on mental illness cases based upon a wide variety of backgrounds.Keywords: criminal responsibility, mental illness, sentencing