Defendants' age and severity of punishment for two crimes in a mock scenario: further data.
95 undergraduates read a simulated crime vignette about either murder or theft in which the perpetrator was a 20-, 40-, or 60-yr.-old man, then gave recommendations about sentence and parole. Subsequently, they made a second set of recommendations for the other crime and another age. For combined sets of judgments, punishment was harsher for the murder than for the theft. For murder, the 60-yr.-old and the 20-yr.-old were both treated more leniently than the 40-yr.-old, but the difference was greater for the older than for the younger offender. Researchers should examine age in relation to judgments for different crimes with participants exposed to all experimental conditions.
McKelvie
Stuart J
SJ
Department of Psychology, Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Québec, Canada. smckelvi@ubishops.ca
Bergeron
Christine E
CE
D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001290:Attitude; D003416:Criminal Law; D005260:Female; D006708:Homicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011678:Punishment; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D013800:Theft / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*