Bridging the gap between judges and the public? A multi-method study
Journal of Experimental Criminology, Volume 3, Number 2 / June, 2007, Pages 131-161
http://digbig.com/4ttfe
Jan W. de Keijser, Peter J. van Koppen, and Henk Elffers
"This article examines the gap between Dutch judges and the public in terms of preferred severity of sentences. It focuses on one particular explanation usually given for the gap: the lack of case-specific, detailed information on the part of the general public. Results show that providing the public with detailed case information indeed reduces severity of sentences preferred. Moreover, those members of the public who were given short and unbalanced newspaper reports preferred much harsher sentences than did those who were given the full case files. However, despite such a reduction in punitiveness as a result of information, the public’s preferred sentences remain much more punitive than judges’ sentences pertaining to exactly the same case files."
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