Psychology of punishment

127 Pages·2011·5.309 MB·English

by  Palmetti, Nicholas M., Russo, Jennifer P.

PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONS, MOTIVATIONS AND ACTIONS

PSYCHOLOGY OF PUNISHMENT

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P E ,
SYCHOLOGY OF MOTIONS
M A
OTIVATIONS AND CTIONS

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PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONS, MOTIVATIONS AND ACTIONS

PSYCHOLOGY OF PUNISHMENT

NICHOLAS M. PALMETTI

AND
JENNIFER P. RUSSO
EDITORS

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New York
Copyright © 2011 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Psychology of punishment / editors, Nicholas M. Palmetti and Jennifer P. Russo.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-62257-014-0 (E-Book)
1. Punishment (Psychology) I. Palmetti, Nicholas M. II. Russo, Jennifer P.
BF319.5.P8P793 2011 364.601'9--dc22 2011009097

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York
CONTENTS

Preface ` vii
Chapter 1 Christian Religiosity and Support for the Death
Penalty Versus Life Imprisonment 1
Kevin H. Wozniak
Chapter 2 Is Public Support for Sex Offender Registration
Policies Driven by a Desire to Protect Society
or Punish Offenders? 33
Allison L. Skinner, Katlyn Sorenson Farnum
and Margaret C. Stevenson
Chapter 3 Sex, Drugs, and Deterrence: Applying Stafford
and Warr‟s Reconceptualization of Deterrence
Theory to Drug Driving Across the Genders 51
Christopher N. Watling, James Freeman,
Gavan Palk and Jeremy Davey
Chapter 4 Third Party Reward and Punishment: Group Size,
Efficiency and Public Goods 73
Johan Almenberg, Anna Dreber, Coren L. Apicella
and David G. Rand
Chapter 5 Race, Age and Punishment in Juvenile
Correctional Facilities 93
Sheryl Feinstein
Index 111

PREFACE

In this book, the authors present topical research in the study of the
psychology of punishment. Topics discussed include the social psychological
models of public opinion about punishment and religious beliefs; retributive
punishment for sex offenders; drug driving laws and punishment; third party
reward and punishment and race, age and punishment in juvenile correctional
facilities.
Chapter 1 – Based upon social psychological models of public opinion
about punishment, this paper explores the effects of Christian affiliation and
religious beliefs on support for sentencing convicted murderers to death versus
life imprisonment. Past research shows that question wording significantly
affects citizens‟ stated punishment preferences, but little research explores the
effects of religiosity on the choice between different punishments for murder,
which allows respondents to express more nuanced opinions. Testing data
from the Fourth National Survey of Religion and Politics, I find that Roman
Catholic affiliation and more frequent practice of religious behaviors increase
the likelihood that respondents prefer life imprisonment over the death
penalty, while religious beliefs do not significantly affect respondents‟
preference. These results suggest that social group membership may play a
more significant role in shaping citizens‟ opinions about the death penalty than
previously thought.
Chapter 2 – Sex offender registration policies were designed to help
protect the public from dangerous sexual predators. Registration policies are
becoming more and more inclusive of sex offenders and recently have been
extended to juvenile sex offenders as well. This trend might be driven by well-
documented, high levels of public support for sex offender registration
policies. Unfortunately, no research has revealed that registration policies
viii Nicholas M. Palmetti and Jennifer P. Russo
effectively prevent sex offenses. Instead, such policies have deleterious effects
on the lives of those registered (e.g., social isolation and harassment, mental
illness, unemployment) in ways that ironically might increase the likelihood of
subsequent criminal activity. Even so, public support for registration policies
remains high, presumably because the public incorrectly assumes that
registration policies protect society. Yet, is public support for sex offender
registration policies driven purely by a utilitarian desire to protect society? In
this chapter, we review two competing underlying psychological mechanisms
that we theorize drive support for registration policies: utilitarian goals to
protect society versus retributive goals to punish sex offenders.
Our review of empirical research suggests that support for sex offender
registration policies is not driven just by a utilitarian desire to protect society
from known, dangerous sex offenders the only legal justification for
registration policies. Instead, research suggests that support for sex offender
registration policies stems from both utilitarian goals of protecting society, as
well as retributive goals of punishment. Policy makers should recognize that
placing sex offenders on the registry, even after these offenders have
completed their official prison sentence, at least partially serves as a form of
retributive punishment, even though retributive goals of punishment are
antithetical to the purpose of registration policies.
Chapter 3 – A consistent finding in the literature is that males report
greater usage of drugs and subsequently greater amounts of drug driving.
Research also suggests that vicarious influences may be more pertinent to
males than to females. Utilising Stafford and Warr‟s (1993)
reconceptualization of deterrence theory, this study sought to determine if the
relative deterrent impact of zero-tolerance drug driving laws is disparate
between genders. A sample of motorists (N = 899) completed a self-report
questionnaire assessing participants frequency of drug driving and personal
and vicarious experiences with punishment and punishment avoidance. It was
found that males were significantly more likely to report future intentions of
drug driving. Additionally, vicarious experiences of punishment avoidance
was a more influential predictor of future drug driving instances for males with
personal experiences of punishment avoidance a more influential predictor for
females. This study identifies that the facilitation of drug driving between
males and females is differentially influenced from different mechanisms.
Importantly, this study‟s findings can inform gender sensitive media
campaigns and interventions for convicted drug drivers.
Chapter 4 – Costly third party punishment has been interpreted as a tool
for studying the enforcement of social norms. Experiments on this topic