Keywords

Death Qualification; Forensic Psychology; Psychology; Jury; Jury Decision-Making; Jury Selection

Abstract

For an individual to serve on a capital jury, they must first undergo voir dire, a preliminary examination of potential jurors to assess impartiality regarding death penalty use. This process is called death qualification and is carried out so that attorneys can identify and exclude individuals who are unwilling to impose capital punishment (Haney, 1984). Over the last four decades, this selection process has been criticized by researchers and legal scholars for its biasing effects in capital cases (Butler, 2007; Butler & Moran, 2007a; Fitzgerald & Ellsworth, 1984; Haney, 1984; Thompson et al., 1984). Since the 1980s, psychologists have investigated how the death qualification process systematically biases capital juries to favor individuals with certain demographics, attitudes, dispositions, and behaviors. However, limited attention has been given to the ways in which more refined cognitive biases and attitudinal dispositions influence this legal procedure. In this study, college aged individuals completed an online survey to determine their beliefs about the death penalty, ability to remain impartial regarding death penalty use in capital trials, and attitudes about mental health. It was hypothesized that individuals with less positive attitudes toward mental health will demonstrate greater support for the death penalty and be more likely to become death-qualified jurors. Results indicate that while less positive mental health attitudes significantly related to greater death penalty support, less positive mental health attitudes do not correlate to a greater likelihood of becoming death qualified. Surprisingly, we uncovered a significant relationshipbetween more positive mental health attitudes and higher death qualification likelihood scores. Our findings have important implications as it relates to capital jury composition and bias.

Thesis Completion Year

2026

Thesis Completion Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair

Mottarella, Karen

College

College of Sciences

Department

Department of Psychology

Thesis Discipline

Psychology

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus Access

None

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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