Traditional research on lay beliefs about punishment is often hampered by the complex nature of the question and its implications. We present a new intuitive jurisprudence approach that utilizes the insights of developmental psychology to shed light on the origins of punishment intuitions, along with the first empirical study to test the approach. Data from 80 child participants are presented, providing evidence that children expect punishment to serve as a specific deterrent, but finding no evidence that children expect punishment to have a general deterrent or rehabilitative effect. We also find that children understand punishment in a way that is consistent with the expressive theory of law and with expressive retributivism, and we present evidence that an understanding of the value of punishment to the social contract develops throughout childhood. Finally, we discuss the application of the intuitive jurisprudence approach to other important legal questions.

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Previous research found that poor performers tend to overestimate how well their performance compares to others’. This unskilled and unaware effect has been attributed to poor performers’ lack of metacognitive ability to realize their ineptitude. We contend that the unskilled are motivated to ignore (be unaware of) their poor performance so that they can feel better about themselves. We tested this idea in an experiment in which we manipulated the perceived self-relevancy of the task to men and women after they had completed a visual pun task and before they estimated their performance on the task. As predicted, the unskilled and unaware effect was attenuated when the task was perceived to have low self-relevance.

The rapid rise of computers and computer networks in modern life has created new opportunities for criminal activity, and law enforcement has struggled to keep up. Computer and cyber crimes include not only unauthorized access, colloquially referred to as “hacking,” but also fraud and identity theft, industrial espionage, and general abuse of resources among others. Several common methods of committing computer and cyber crimes include the use of viruses, worms, keyloggers, phishing, skimming, and social engineering. Law enforcement challenges presented by computer and cyber crimes include technical limitations, underreporting, and national and international legal issues.