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For men crime doesn't pay in the eyes of justice...
By Crobar in Neurognosis
June 1, 2010

Justice is blind or at least that is the concept we'd all like to think is at work. However, a recent study by psychologists at Stockholm University found that justice isn't blind at all, well, at least not the people who carry it out.

So what am I talking about? The researchers took experience judges, lawyers, police officers and people outside of the law enforcement/legal arena and had them participate in simulated court cases - a total of 300 in all. What they found can be seen as a bit disturbing but on a deeper level gives us insight into human perception and how it affects decision-making.

The researchers found that judges and the lay persons (the outside people) assessed people of the same gender as themselves more harshly. However, police and lawyers (no matter their gender) assessed males more harshly. Also, female participants in this category showed that the defendant's looks affected their evaluations of them!

This research also showed that such factors are at work in eyewitnesses to events as well with males being judged more harshly. Also, the more time that passes from the event, the more harshly they judge the individual.

Justice may be blind but the people who carry it out are not...

Comments


  • Kyle Kyle Report a ViolationReport a Violation
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    That's an interesting find regarding the length of time passing from the event equating to a more harsh judgment. My senses tell me that a crime that passes through many decades before a suspect is caught - especially if the suspect is now elderly - garners more sympathy towards the defendant. General Pinochet was one case I remember when he was arrested in the UK. The visual of the stumbling, pitiful body of a once terrible dictator seems to soften the stance of some people. I have no research to back that claim simply a perception but I wonder, then how my own perceptions would affect my judgment in the court room.

    Very interesting!

    June 1, 2010 at 12:23 p.m.