Punishment as a scarce resource: a potential policy intervention for managing incarceration rates
Scholars have proposed that incarceration rates might be reduced by a requirement that judges justify incarceration decisions with respect to their operational costs (e.g., prison capacity). In an Internet-based vignette experiment (N = 214), we tested this prediction by examining whether criminal p...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1157460/full |
| _version_ | 1827953672911323136 |
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| author | Eyal Aharoni Eddy Nahmias Morris B. Hoffman Sharlene Fernandes |
| author_facet | Eyal Aharoni Eddy Nahmias Morris B. Hoffman Sharlene Fernandes |
| author_sort | Eyal Aharoni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Scholars have proposed that incarceration rates might be reduced by a requirement that judges justify incarceration decisions with respect to their operational costs (e.g., prison capacity). In an Internet-based vignette experiment (N = 214), we tested this prediction by examining whether criminal punishment judgments (prison vs. probation) among university undergraduates would be influenced by a prompt to provide a justification for one's judgment, and by a brief message describing prison capacity costs. We found that (1) the justification prompt alone was sufficient to reduce incarceration rates, (2) the prison capacity message also independently reduced incarceration rates, and (3) incarceration rates were most strongly reduced (by about 25%) when decision makers were asked to justify their sentences with respect to the expected capacity costs. These effects survived a test of robustness and occurred regardless of whether participants reported that prison costs should influence judgments of incarceration. At the individual crime level, the least serious crimes were most amenable to reconsideration for probation. These findings are important for policymakers attempting to manage high incarceration rates. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T14:17:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-417035db3835466382528b5dbf571d77 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T14:17:12Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-417035db3835466382528b5dbf571d772023-05-05T06:10:10ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-05-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.11574601157460Punishment as a scarce resource: a potential policy intervention for managing incarceration ratesEyal Aharoni0Eddy Nahmias1Morris B. Hoffman2Sharlene Fernandes3Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United StatesGeorgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United StatesIndependent Researcher, Denver, CO, United StatesGeorgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United StatesScholars have proposed that incarceration rates might be reduced by a requirement that judges justify incarceration decisions with respect to their operational costs (e.g., prison capacity). In an Internet-based vignette experiment (N = 214), we tested this prediction by examining whether criminal punishment judgments (prison vs. probation) among university undergraduates would be influenced by a prompt to provide a justification for one's judgment, and by a brief message describing prison capacity costs. We found that (1) the justification prompt alone was sufficient to reduce incarceration rates, (2) the prison capacity message also independently reduced incarceration rates, and (3) incarceration rates were most strongly reduced (by about 25%) when decision makers were asked to justify their sentences with respect to the expected capacity costs. These effects survived a test of robustness and occurred regardless of whether participants reported that prison costs should influence judgments of incarceration. At the individual crime level, the least serious crimes were most amenable to reconsideration for probation. These findings are important for policymakers attempting to manage high incarceration rates.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1157460/fullcriminal sentencescost—benefitdecision makingpunishmentcriminal justice policycost disclosure |
| spellingShingle | Eyal Aharoni Eddy Nahmias Morris B. Hoffman Sharlene Fernandes Punishment as a scarce resource: a potential policy intervention for managing incarceration rates Frontiers in Psychology criminal sentences cost—benefit decision making punishment criminal justice policy cost disclosure |
| title | Punishment as a scarce resource: a potential policy intervention for managing incarceration rates |
| title_full | Punishment as a scarce resource: a potential policy intervention for managing incarceration rates |
| title_fullStr | Punishment as a scarce resource: a potential policy intervention for managing incarceration rates |
| title_full_unstemmed | Punishment as a scarce resource: a potential policy intervention for managing incarceration rates |
| title_short | Punishment as a scarce resource: a potential policy intervention for managing incarceration rates |
| title_sort | punishment as a scarce resource a potential policy intervention for managing incarceration rates |
| topic | criminal sentences cost—benefit decision making punishment criminal justice policy cost disclosure |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1157460/full |
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