Do Coping Styles Influence the Way We Judge Criminal Offenses? A Preliminary Investigation

Abstract

A criminal offense might be viewed through the lens of the coping strategy adopted by its perpetrator. To investigate this, we presented our participants with vignettes describing a high school student who has committed an offense. We were able to demonstrate the moderating effect of depicted coping strategy on rated seriousness of offense. This differential judgment was itself a function of the judge s own coping strategy. Our findings support a contextual or transactional approach to the study of rated seriousness of offenses.