{"id":448,"date":"2026-06-08T11:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/?p=448"},"modified":"2026-06-08T11:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:10:06","slug":"an-example-of-leniency-in-a-criminal-case-based-on-a-judges-belief-in-diminished-capacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/2026\/06\/08\/an-example-of-leniency-in-a-criminal-case-based-on-a-judges-belief-in-diminished-capacity\/","title":{"rendered":"An Example of Leniency in a Criminal Case Based on a Judge’s Belief in Diminished Capacity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An article found here<\/a> provides an example of how, even after a jury reaches a guilty verdict in a murder case, a judge\u2019s sentence can reflect belief in the defendant\u2019s diminished capacity due to drug use. The case should stimulate a lively classroom discussion about whether the judge\u2019s lenient sentence was justified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article found here provides an example of how, even after a jury reaches a guilty verdict in a murder case, a judge\u2019s sentence can reflect belief in the defendant\u2019s diminished capacity due to drug use. The case should stimulate … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disorders"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcjttF-7e","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":146,"url":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/2020\/09\/13\/competency-to-stand-trial\/","url_meta":{"origin":448,"position":0},"title":"Competency to Stand Trial","author":"dbernstein","date":"September 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a recent example in which the process of determining a criminal suspect's competency to stand trial took so long that the time he spent in jail awaiting trial exceeded the length of his ultimate prison sentence. It also exemplifies the fact that clinical judgments about competency and sanity\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Psychological Disorders"","block_context":{"text":"Psychological Disorders","link":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/category\/disorders\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":444,"url":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/2026\/06\/08\/update-on-a-famous-example-of-a-not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity-case\/","url_meta":{"origin":448,"position":1},"title":"Update on a Famous Example of a Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity Case","author":"dbernstein","date":"June 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A 2022 news story found here updates the status of John Hinckley, Jr., the man who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and was ultimately released from a mental institution. A longer, and more detailed update appears here.","rel":"","context":"In "Psychological Disorders"","block_context":{"text":"Psychological Disorders","link":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/category\/disorders\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":375,"url":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/2025\/03\/10\/an-example-of-limits-on-test-validity\/","url_meta":{"origin":448,"position":2},"title":"An Example of Limits on Test Validity","author":"dbernstein","date":"March 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"An article found here provides a good example of how a test can be valid for one purpose but invalid for another. In this case, the test is the Wonderlic Contemporary Cognitive Ability Test and it has been used for years by the NFL to help teams decide which players\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Research Methods & Statistics"","block_context":{"text":"Research Methods & Statistics","link":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/category\/rmstats\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":431,"url":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/2026\/05\/20\/an-example-of-emotion-based-motivation-to-kill\/","url_meta":{"origin":448,"position":3},"title":"An Example of Emotion-Based Motivation to Kill","author":"dbernstein","date":"May 20, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"At this site you can read about how emotions associated with jealousy led a woman to murder the girlfriend of her former lover. The article contains a link to a Netflix movie about the case.","rel":"","context":"In "Motivation and Emotion"","block_context":{"text":"Motivation and Emotion","link":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/category\/m-and-e\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":224,"url":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/2021\/08\/19\/why-you-should-not-pee-in-the-shower\/","url_meta":{"origin":448,"position":4},"title":"Why You Should Not Pee in the Shower.","author":"dbernstein","date":"August 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Blogger Mark Frauenfelder recently provided the following example of how classical conditioning might create problems for people who urinate while showering:\"Pelvic floor therapist Dr. Alicia Jeffrey-Thomas, who has a doctorate in physical therapy, says peeing in the shower is a bad idea, even though a recent survey revealed that 76%\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Learning"","block_context":{"text":"Learning","link":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/category\/learning\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":312,"url":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/2023\/04\/21\/webers-law-can-cost-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":448,"position":5},"title":"Weber’s Law Can Cost You!","author":"dbernstein","date":"April 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The following story provides an amusing, though costly example of the real-world importance of JNDs, in this case, for weight. During an extended stay in Italy, a man we know went to the grocery store, taking with him the shopping trolley (an opaque bag on wheels) provided in his rental\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sensation and Perception"","block_context":{"text":"Sensation and Perception","link":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/category\/s-and-p\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449,"href":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychexamples.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}