[Intuitive evaluation of guilt of violent offenders in relation to offender personality]

The distinction between overcontrolled and undercontrolled offenders in criminal psychology is applied to the forensic issues related to crimes of passion under German penal law. The effects of descriptions of the offenders' personality on the attribution of responsibility were studied in a judgment experiment using fictional cases. N = 193 students of law and of psychology, respectively, gave judgments on an offender's legal responsibility and related criteria. Vignettes with four different homicide case descriptions were used as stimuli. Offender personality (overcontrolled vs undercontrolled) was varied as a second stimulus factor. Higher proportions of overcontrolled offenders were judged to be not responsible for their deeds. Law students were more lenient in their judgments than students of psychology. A factor analysis of subjects' ratings of 15 diagnostic criteria yielded four dimensions: intensity of affective excitement, incomprehensibility of the offense, strangeness to the offender's personality, and inevitability.