The Expressive Function of Criminal Law: How Legality and Punishment Influence Moral Judgment

• In Event: Factors that Shape Criminal Policy Decision Making

Abstract

Does the legal status of a certain action (i.e., as legally prohibited or permissible) influence how people judge its morality? Does knowing, for example, that recreational use of drugs is no longer illegal changes how people morally judge such conduct? The current research examines these questions experimentally drawing on vignette studies in which the legal status of various conducts was manipulated. First we explore whether indictment or exoneration changes the moral classification of the behavior at stake. Second, we explore whether legislation similarly alters people's moral judgment towards the direction of the law. Finally, we explore whether levels of punishment (as more lenient or severe) can also impact how people judge the morality of the underlying behavior. Results indicate that: (a) Exoneration increases the moral permissibility of a given conduct relatively to conviction. (b) The law has a similar effect on moral judgment such that a conduct seems more moral when the law permits it and less moral when the law prohibit it. (c) Punishment severity, whether in court rulings or in the criminal law itself, has no effect on moral judgments. (d) The role that the law plays in shaping moral judgment does not stem from the legitimacy people assign to legal institutions but rather from the ability of the law to convey exiting social norms. Taken together, this research suggests that legality plays an important and complex role in influencing people’s moral judgments.

Authors

• Avital Mentovich, University of Haifa

• Maor Zeev Wolf, Ben Gurion University