Implicit Bias and Capital Decision-Making: Using Narrative to Counter Prejudicial Psychiatric Labels

Authors

Sean O'Brien, University of Missouri - Kansas City, School of LawFollow
Kathleen Wayland, Habeas Corpus Resource CenterFollow

Publication Date

7-8-2015

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Overreliance on psychiatric diagnostic labels in the defense of death penalty cases risks triggering prejudicial associations in the minds of decision-makers. This article emphasizes the importance of developing a mitigating counter-narrative of the defendant’s life story, based on an extensive longitudinal and developmental investigation of the defendant and his family’s life trajectory. It is the client’s life story, not diagnostic labels, that reveals his humanity. Cognitive psychology provides a useful framework for explaining human perceptions, and how implicit or explicit biases can interfere with the objective interpretation of data in ways that affect judgment and behavior.

Publication Title

Hofstra Law Review

Volume

43

Recommended Citation

Sean O'Brien & Kathleen Wayland, Implicit Bias and Capital Decision-Making: Using Narrative to Counter Prejudicial Psychiatric Labels, 43 Hofstra Law Review 751 (2015).
Available at: https://irlaw.umkc.edu/faculty_works/182