Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a Sentencing Mitigator for Veterans in Criminal Court

Research has shown the relationships among military combat, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and criminal behavior to be quite complex. Despite a lack of empirical data to support the practice, lawyers continue to introduce evidence of PTSD on behalf of veteran defendants in criminal cases with limited success. The present study aimed to fill this gap in the literature by exploring whether a criminal defendant's military history and mental health status can influence sentencing. A total of 362 participants were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk to participate in the study. Participants were assigned to read one of six vignettes in which a defendant pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and an expert psychologist subsequently testified during sentencing about the defendant's mental health. The defendant's military history (veteran or non-veteran) and mental health diagnosis (PTSD, depression, or none) were manipulated. Participant responses to a series of online questionnaires were analyzed to examine six hypotheses regarding mock jurors' sentencing recommendations and perceptions of the defendant's treatment amenability and likelihood of violent recidivism. Results of a series of factorial ANOVAs revealed that veteran defendants diagnosed with PTSD received significantly shorter prison sentences than veteran defendants diagnosed with depression or no mental illness. For defendants diagnosed with PTSD, veterans received significantly shorter sentences than non-veterans. Non-significant findings, results of exploratory analyses, and implications for legal practice are also discussed.