Extralegal Factors Influencing Judicial Perceptions of Defendants with Mental Illness

The United States has one of the highest prison populations in the world. This means millions of individuals are either incarcerated or under other forms of supervision by the criminal justice system at any one given time. All those millions of individuals had to move through the U.S. criminal courts and thus engage with multiple forms of courtroom participants along the way. Of those millions coming through the system, many have either been diagnosed with a mental illness, or have self-reported having a mental illness. This makes the personal beliefs, stigmas, and biases of the previously mentioned courtroom participants regarding mental illness of significant importance for defendants to be treated fair and just. This secondary analysis thesis aims to determine if there is a correlation between courtroom participants having family members diagnosed with mental illness, and their opinions on mental health professionals’ helpfulness and reliability in the courtroom. This thesis also examines whether there is an association between respondents having family members diagnosed with mental illness, and whether they believe mental illness is even a mitigating factor. This analysis is conducted using previously collected secondary data gathered by voluntary surveys sent out to judges, public defenders, and prosecutors in the state of Colorado as part of a larger research study.