Double jeopardy: An assessment of victimization of battered women in intimate relationships and the criminal justice system

The purpose of this study is to assess potential jurors' knowledge of the effects of domestic violence on women based on Dr. Lenore Walker's theory and to determine to what extent this knowledge informs their verdict for a battered woman who kills her abuser. A sample of 100 adults who qualify for jury selection were randomly assigned to read one of two case vignettes and asked to deliver a verdict of guilty or not guilty. Participants were asked to complete the Battered Women's Questionnaire (Greene, Raitz and Lindblad, 1989) based on the details presented in the vignette. This study assessed whether or not a juror's knowledge of domestic violence is what primarily informs their verdict. Results were expected to show that (1) jurors are more likely to convict a women who suffered emotional abuse only over women who suffered both emotional and physical abuse, (2) female jurors are less likely than male jurors to convict women who kill their abuser and (3) a potential juror's knowledge of domestic violence is the primary factor that affects their decision. This study revealed that knowledge of the battered women syndrome is more important in predicting how likely one is to find victims of domestic violence guilty, and the type of abuse (emotional versus physical) and gender are likely much less important, as they were not found to predict verdict in this sample.