Applying Moral Foundations Theory to the Explanation of Capital Jurors’ Sentencing Decisions

Abstract

This study applies moral foundations theory to capital juror decision making. We hypothesized that binding moral foundations would predict death qualification and punitive sentencing decisions, whereas individualizing moral foundations would be associated with juror disqualification and a leniency effect. Additionally, we considered whether moral foundations can explain differences in death penalty application between conservatives and liberals. Respondents from two independent samples participated in a mock-juror task in which the circumstances of a hypothetical defendant’s case varied. Results revealed moral foundations were strong predictors of death qualification. The binding and individualizing foundations were related to sentencing decisions in the expected ways. Supporting our contention that moral foundations operate differently across different types of cases, heterogeneity in the effects of moral foundations was observed. Finally, we found support for the hypothesis that the relationship between sentencing decisions and conservatism would be attenuated by moral foundations.     

Lost on the Way Home? The Right to Life in Northern Ireland

This article starts from the premise that, through the Belfast Agreement, the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) was invested with a 'transitional justice' function in Northern Ireland, unlike in the rest of the United Kingdom. The article evaluates how far the HRA has met this challenge by examining a case study of the right to life. The European Court's development of a procedural aspect to the right to life in the form of a right to an effective investigation, has implicated both institutional reform for the future, and also a need to revisit past state killings with their 'transitional justice' implications. There have been some positive developments, but, despite this, domestic institutions and courts have largely failed to deliver on Article 2's procedural aspect. The article concludes by questioning whether the very design of the HRA has limited the possibilities for a 'transformational constitutionalism' capable of incorporating Article 2's procedural right.     

Crime That Pays: The Global Spread of the Russian Mafia

Books reviewed in this article:
Robert I. Friedman, Red Mafia: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America
Paul Klebnikov, Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky and the Looting of Russia
James O. Finckenauer and Elin J. Waring, Russian Mafia in America: Immigration, Culture, and Crime
Chrystia Freeland, Sale of the Century: Russia's Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism
Jeffrey Robinson, The Merger: The Conglomeration of International Organized Crime     

B. Reviews and notes: bibliographies and works of reference

LE MONDE ARABE ET MUSULMAN AU MIROIR DE L'UNIVERSITE FRANÇAISE: REPERTOIRE DES THESES SOUTENUES DANS LES UNIVER‐SITES FRANÇAISES, EN SCIENCES DE L'HOMME ET DE LA SOCIETE, SUR LE MONDE ARABE ET MUSULMAN (1973–1987). By MARIE BURGAT, DANIELLE BRUCHET, JACQUELINE QUILET [& others]. Aix‐en‐Provençe, Institut de Recherche et d'Etudes sur le Monde Arabe et Musulman, 1989–92. 4 vols.

MAPAS, PLANOS Y FORTIFICACIONES HISPANICOS DE MARRUECOS (S.XVI‐XX)/CARTES, PLANS ET FORTIFICATIONS HISPANIQUES DU MAROC (XVIe‐XXe S.). By JUAN BTA. VILAR. 604pp. Text in Spanish. Table of Contents, Preface (by José Antonio Calderon Quijano), and Introduction in Spanish and French. Madrid, Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Secretaría de Estado para la Cooperación Internacional y para Iberoamérica: Dirección General de Relaciones Culturales y Científicas, Agencia Española de Cooperación International, Institute de Cooperación con el Mundo Arabe, 1992. 7210 ptas.

A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF CONTEMPORARY AFGHANISTAN. By LUDWIG W. ADAMEC. Graz, Akademische Druck‐ u. Verlagsanstalt, 1987. vi, 252 pp. Photo section. ÖS 450.‐

TÜRKIYE DI?INDAK? TÜRKLER B?BL?YOGRAFYASI. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TURKS OUT OF TURKEY. By ?SMET B?NARK and others. Ankara, T.C. Ba?bakanlik Devlet Ar?ivleri Genel Müdürlü?ü Dokümentasyon Dairesi Ba?kanli?i (Yayin No.5), 1992. 2 vols. lxv, 1379 pp.

GULF CRISIS CHRONOLOGY: DAY‐TO‐DAY COVERAGE OF EVENTS IN THE GULF CONFLICT FROM 2 AUGUST 1990 TO THE 3 MARCH 1991 CEASEFIRE. Compiled by the BBC WORLD SERVICE. Harlow, Longman, 1991. 454 pp. £65.‐

FRAUENFRAGEN IM MODERNEN ORIENT: EINE ERGANZUNGSBIBLIO‐GRAPHIE. WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: A SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY. By INGEBORG OTTO & MARIANNE SCHMIDT‐DUMONT. (Biblio., 16.) Hamburg, Deutsches Übersee‐Institut, Übersee‐Dokumentation, Referat Vorderer Orient, 1989. xvi, 126 pp. DM19.‐

THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 1993. London, Europa Publications, 1992. xxi, 988 pp. £130.     

'Appropriate' Policy Knowledge, and Institutional and Governance Implications

The papers in this special section of AJPA are the product of a symposium held in Brisbane in February 2003, which was jointly sponsored by the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet. Three papers were delivered. David Adams, from the Victorian Public Service, delivered a paper entitled 'Usable knowledge and public policy'. Wayne Parsons, from the University of London, gave a paper 'Not just steering but weaving: Relevant knowledge and the craft of building policy capacity'. Randal Stewart, a policy consultant based in Sydney, gave a paper entitled 'Public sector reform knowledge production'. The purposes of this paper are to highlight salient points from the papers and to assess briefly the institutional and governance implications of taking at last some steps beyond the currently prevailing rationalist approaches to policy and governance.     

Understanding Local Service Delivery Arrangements: Are the ICMA ASD Data Reliable?

The authors utilize the two latest ICMA Profile of Local Government Service Delivery Choices surveys to investigate whether the service provision and delivery arrangement information reported in the surveys accurately represents reality and, if not, what factors contribute to generating incorrect or unreliable survey responses. Interviews with practitioners are used to better understand both the accuracy of the survey responses and improvements that could be made to the survey instrument. Results suggest that the ICMA ASD survey data are highly erratic, with more than 70 percent of the cases (N = 70) investigated containing some inaccuracies. A qualitative analysis shows that the majority of the errors appear to be caused by the lack of a clear definition of service provision or by the service titles being too vague or too broad, both of which likely lead to discretion in interpreting survey questions and thus inconsistent answers by individual respondents over time.     

Portable high‐resolution automated 3D imaging for footwear and tire impression capture

The forensic science community raised the need for improved evidence recognition, collection, and visualization analytical instrumentation for field and laboratory use. While the 3D optical techniques for imaging static objects have been extensively studied, there is still a major gap between current knowledge and collecting high‐quality footwear and tire impression evidence. Among optical means for 3D imaging, digital fringe projection (DFP) techniques reconstruct 3D shape from phase information, achieving camera‐pixel spatial resolution. This paper presents a high‐resolution 3D imaging technology using DFP techniques dedicated to footwear and tire impression capture. We developed fully automated software algorithms and a graphical user interface (GUI) that allow anyone without training to operate for high‐quality 3D data capture. We performed accuracy evaluations and comparisons comparing with the commercial high‐end 3D scanner and carried out qualitative tests for various impressions comparing with the current practices. Overall, our technology achieves similar levels of accuracy and resolution with a high‐end commercially available 3D scanner, while having the merits of being (1) more affordable; (2) much easier to operate; and (3) more robust. Compared with the current practice of casting, our technology demonstrates its superiority because it (1) is non‐destructive; (2) collects more evidence detail than casts, especially when an impression is fragile; (3) requires less time and money to collect each piece of evidence; and (4) results in a digital file that can easily be shared with other examiners.     

Situational Trust: How Disadvantaged Mothers Reconceive Legal Cynicism

Research has shown that legal cynicism is pervasive among residents of poor, black neighborhoods. However, controlling for crime rates, these residents call police at higher rates than whites and residents of middle‐class neighborhoods, and ethnographic research suggests that mothers in particular sometimes exact social control over partners and children through police notification. Given these findings, how might researchers better understand how legal cynicism and occasional reliance on police fit together? Drawing on interviews with poor African‐American mothers in Washington, DC, this article develops an alternative conception of cultural orientations about law: situational trust. This concept emphasizes micro‐level dynamism in cultural conceptions of the police, expanding the literature on police trust by emphasizing situational contingency. Mothers deploy at least four alternative strategies that produce moments of trust: officer exceptionalism, domain specificity, therapeutic consequences, and institutional navigation. These strategies shed light on the contextual meanings of safety and legitimacy.