Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:14:50.716Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Applying the revenge system to the criminal justice system and jury decision-making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2012

S. Craig Roberts
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland, United Kingdom. [email protected]://www.psychology.stir.ac.uk/staff/staff-profiles/academic-staff/craig-roberts
Jennifer Murray
Affiliation:
Nursing, Midwifery, and Allied Health Professions Research Unit, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, United Kingdom. [email protected]://stir.academia.edu/JenniferMurray/About

Abstract

McCullough et al. propose an evolved cognitive revenge system which imposes retaliatory costs on aggressors. They distinguish between this and other forms of punishment (e.g., those administered by judges) which are not underpinned by a specifically designed evolutionary mechanism. Here we outline mechanisms and circumstances through which the revenge system might nonetheless infiltrate decision-making within the criminal justice system.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abwender, D. A. & Hough, K. (2001) Interactive effects of characteristics of defendant and mock juror on US participants' judgment and sentencing recommendations. Journal of Social Psychology 141:603–15.Google Scholar
Ho, R., ForsterLee, L., ForsterLee, R. & Crofts, N. (2002) Justice versus vengeance: Motives underlying punitive judgements. Personality and Individual Differences 33:365–77.Google Scholar
Lapsley, J. N. (1998) Vengeance: The half-hidden pillager of our lives. Pastoral Psychology 46:255–65.Google Scholar
Lerner, M. J. (2003) The justice motive: Where social psychologists found it, how they lost it, and why they may not find it again. Personality and Social Psychology Review 7:388–99.Google Scholar
Murray, J., Thomson, M. E., Cooke, D. J. & Charles, K. E. (2011) Investigating the relationship between justice-vengeance motivations in punitive sentencing recommendations. Legal and Criminological Psychology [Published Online, ahead of print]. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8333.2011.02021.x.Google Scholar
O'Gorman, R., Sloan Wilson, D. & Miller, R. R. (2005) Altruistic punishing and helping differ in sensitivity to relatedness, friendship and future interactions. Evolution and Human Behavior 26:375–87.Google Scholar
Price, M. D. (1997) Can mediation produce justice? A restorative discussion for mediators. Signal 1:16.Google Scholar
Roberts, S. C. (2012) Applied evolutionary psychology. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Singer, T., Seymour, B., O'Doherty, J. P., Stephan, K. E., Dolan, R. J. & Frith, C. D. (2006) Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others. Nature 439:466–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tsoudis, O. (2002) The influence of empathy in mock jury criminal cases: Adding to the affect control model. Western Criminology Review 4:5567.Google Scholar