THE IMPACT OF ELEMENTS OF SELF-DEFENSE AND OBJECTIVE VERSUS SUBJECTIVE INSTRUCTIONS ON JURORS VERDICTS FOR BATTERED WOMEN DEFENDANTS

Battered woman defendants' claims of self-defense have often been view ed as not fitting the classic definition of self-defense. Vignettes of a legal case varied the explicitness of the threat made to the woman by her partner before she killed him, whether she had the opportunity ro retreat, and objective versus subjective instructions by the judge. College students (N = 399) chose a verdict, identified variables that influenced their verdicts, and completed attitudinal measures. The op portunity for retreat increased the probability of a guilty verdict by 5 times. Objective juror instructions increased the odds of a guilty verdict by almost 2 times. Explicitness versus implicitness of the thr eat did not affect verdict choice nor did attitudes of mock jurors. Ve rdict choice was more influenced by details about the abuse than perso nal traits of the husband or wife or reports from authorities.