Essentialist Views of Criminal Behavior Predict Increased Punitiveness

Justin W. Martin; Sophie Charles; Larisa Heiphetz

doi:10.1017/9781009001021.019

Chapter 12 - Essentialist Views of Criminal Behavior Predict Increased Punitiveness

from Religion and Morality

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 November 2022

Sophie Charles and

Edited by

Joseph Sommer and

Julien Musolino: Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Joseph Sommer: Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Pernille Hemmer: Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey

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Summary

One bad act can permanently stain perceptions of someone’s character. Being labeled a criminal potentially has such an enduring stigma because of people’s willingness to believe that people have an internal, unchanging essence leading them to transgress. In Study 1, we developed a novel scale to assess individual differences in essentialist beliefs about criminality and found that these beliefs predicted punitiveness. Study 2 replicated these findings and also revealed that participants’ attitudes toward people who had committed crimes mediated this link. Study 3 found that participants who held essential beliefs about criminality were more likely to choose retributive punishments over those that prevented future harm. These results illustrate the importance of essentialist beliefs in the context of the legal system.

Keywords

criminal justice essentialism law legal system moral cognition moral psychology morality psychology and law punishment

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cognitive Science of Belief
A Multidisciplinary Approach
, pp. 254 - 276

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009001021.019 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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Chapter 12 - Essentialist Views of Criminal Behavior Predict Increased Punitiveness

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