Autistic juvenile defendants: How defendant race and offense type affect juror decisions

This study explores whether providing information about a juvenile defendant's autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis, the type of offense (violent/nonviolent), and their race influences laypersons' credibility evaluations and legal decisions (verdicts/sentencing).

We expected participants to render more not guilty verdicts and show leniency in sentencing when the defendant is White, has an ASD diagnosis, and is charged with a nonviolent offense. We anticipated credibility evaluations would mediate the relationships between ASD diagnosis and race, type of offense and sentencing views.

Using a mock-juror paradigm, 466 participants read a vignette in which the juvenile defendant's diagnosis (ASD + information vs. no diagnosis), race (White vs. Black), and the charged offense (violent vs. nonviolent) were experimentally manipulated.

Participants were highly unlikely to render guilty verdicts (p < .001, OR = 0.33) and harsh sentences (p < .001, η_p² = .11) when the defendant had an ASD diagnosis, even less so for violent offenses (p = .005, η_p² = .02). The defendant's likability (p < .001, η_p² = .04), honesty (p < .001, η_p² = .11), and believability (p < .001, η_p² = .09) were rated higher when the defendant had an ASD diagnosis, and these considerations led to significantly more lenient sentences compared to the no diagnosis condition. Participants were also twice as likely to find the White defendant guilty (p = .003, OR = 1.95) and reported being significantly more certain in their verdicts for the White defendant (p = .017, η_p² = .02).

These results highlight the complex interplay between defendant characteristics and public perceptions of ASD in criminal legal proceedings. Findings highlight the need for judicial education, clearer guidelines on presenting ASD information in court, and further research on how race and neurodevelopmental diagnoses influence legal decisions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).