Attributions for youth crime, accountability and legal competence

Pfeffer, Karen; Maxwell, Maureen; Briggs, A. Davieau

doi:10.1108/20093821211264441

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…These attributions applied to criminals imply that all crime is a result of the individual and his personality rather than environmental or situational factors (Unnever, Cochran, Cullen, & Applegate, 2010). Individuals who endorse personal attributions internalize an offender's criminal acts as part of who that person is; these perceptions then translate into assessments of dangerousness and future crime and predict more punitive responses toward criminal offenders (Pfeffer, Maxwell, & Briggs, 2012;Sanderson, Zanna, & Darley, 2000;Templeton & Hartnagel, 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Religious Fundamentalism and Attitudes toward the Insanity Defense: The Mediating Roles of Criminal Attributions and Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill

Yelderman

Miller

2016

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

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mentioning

confidence: 98%

Religious Fundamentalism and Attitudes toward the Insanity Defense: The Mediating Roles of Criminal Attributions and Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill

Yelderman

Miller

2016

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

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“…Based on our own data and prior literature, we suggest the following tentative conclusions regarding the blame-civilizing impact of historicist narratives: (a) Historicist narratives can mitigate blame even when they do not evoke compassion (see Experiment 2) 9 ; (b) The mere receipt of compassion-evoking history information is insufficient to mitigate blame. Surely, the abuse information presented by Najdowski et al (2009); Pfeffer et al (2012); Stevenson (2009); Stevenson et al (2010), and Weiner et al (1988) evoked compassion, yet the information had no effect on blame or punishment; (c) When-and only when-history information is woven into a compelling explanatory narrative, is it likely to civilize blame. A significant portion of this civilizing effect will be accomplished via diminished perceptions of self-formative control 8 We wondered whether historicist narratives might change perceived meta-desires (Pizarro et al, 2003).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They would not. Pfeffer, Maxwell, and Briggs (2012) varied the abuse history of a murderer and found no effect on blame or punishment. Stevenson, Bottoms, and Diamond (2010) analyzed discussions of mock jurors after they heard defense evidence regarding long-term abuse.…”

Section: The History Of Historicist Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 98%

He never willed to have the will he has: Historicist narratives, “civilized” blame, and the need to distinguish two notions of free will.

Gill

Cerce

2017

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Harsh blame can be socially destructive. This article examines how harsh blame can be "civilized." A core construct here is the historicist narrative, which is a story-like account of how a person came to be the sort of person she is. We argue that historicist narratives regarding immoral actors can temper blame and that this happens via a novel mechanism. To illuminate that mechanism, we offer a novel theoretical perspective on lay beliefs about free will. We distinguish 2 senses of free will: (a) Freedom of action, which portrays the will as a dynamic choice-making mechanism and concerns whether the actor can exert volitional control via that mechanism at the time of action, and (b) Control of self-formation, which portrays the will as an enduring disposition (e.g., persistent desire to humiliate) and refers to whether the actor is truly the source of that disposition. Six experiments show that historicist narratives have no effect on perceived freedom of action, but rather temper blame by reducing perceived self-formative control. We also provide evidence against several additional theoretically derived alternative mediators (e.g., intentionality, perceived suffering). Further underlining the need to distinguish free will concepts, we show that biological narratives-unlike historicist narratives-temper blame via reductions in perceived freedom of action. Finally, to illuminate the meaning of "civilized" blame," we show that historicist narratives specifically reduce the urge to inflict spiteful punishments on offenders, but leave intact the urge to nonviolently guide the offender toward moral improvement. (PsycINFO Database Record

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“…such information [13][14][15] or give it little weight in their judgments [16,17]. These findings led Stevenson to lament that it is "sobering that child abuse appears not to be used as a mitigating factor" [18; pg.…”

Section: From Abuse History To Historicist Narratives: Understanding ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

What do other people think he deserves? Social influence on utilization of mitigating information regarding a violent offender’s unfortunate life history

Gill,

Zungu

2023

PLoS ONE

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The blameworthiness of an offender is often discussed in groups. Yet, the research literature overwhelmingly examines individuals assessing blameworthiness in isolation. To address this gap in the literature, the present study examines group deliberations about blameworthiness, with a particular focus on how group deliberations impact utilization of mitigating information about an offender’s unfortunate life history. Participants from introductory psychology courses at a U.S. university were placed in groups of two or three and each group also included a confederate who followed a script. Groups were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. In one condition (deed only), groups learned only about the offender’s heinous crimes. In the three remaining conditions, participants also received a historicist narrative regarding how the offender’s unfortunate history deformed his moral character. These conditions differed in terms of the confederate’s arguments: Neutral arguments, arguments to ignore the narrative, or arguments to give great weight to the narrative. Results showed that the historicist narrative was particularly effective at reducing outrage and increasing compassion when the confederate argued for its utilization. The reduction in outrage mediated a reduction in spiteful punitiveness toward the offender. Interestingly, the confederate who urged fellow deliberators to ignore the historicist narrative had no impact on outrage or compassion. We also examined mediation of the impact of historicist narratives on outrage and compassion. We found that when the confederate remained neutral the impact of historicist narratives on outrage and compassion was mediated via diminished perceptions of the offender’s control of self-formation. This mirrors what is typically found in prior work focused on individual judgments. In contrast, when the confederate argued that great weight should be given to the narrative, reductions in outrage were mediated via diminished perceptions of offender freedom of action. This pattern of mediation is not typically found but has been found in one previous study where participants received social encouragement to mitigate blame. Results are discussed in terms of how social influence might alter the inferences draw from historicist narratives. Suggestions for future research on social influence in the context of blame are presented.

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Attributions for youth crime, accountability and legal competence

Cited by 6 publications

References 27 publications

Religious Fundamentalism and Attitudes toward the Insanity Defense: The Mediating Roles of Criminal Attributions and Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill

Religious Fundamentalism and Attitudes toward the Insanity Defense: The Mediating Roles of Criminal Attributions and Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill

He never willed to have the will he has: Historicist narratives, “civilized” blame, and the need to distinguish two notions of free will.

What do other people think he deserves? Social influence on utilization of mitigating information regarding a violent offender’s unfortunate life history

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