Salience Theory of Judicial Decisions

Bordalo, Pedro; Gennaioli, Nicola; Shleifer, Andrei

doi:10.1086/676007

Cited by 73 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…If our findings represent a general property in human reasoning, we would expect to find evidence of sentencing cost neglect in prosecutors and judges too. Research has shown that punishment judgments by professional judges may depend on extra-legal, contextual factors [42] like pretrial publicity [43] and whether the judge's favorite football team just won or lost [44]. Studies have also shown that even subject-matter experts can neglect opportunity costs [10,45].…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slippery scales: Cost prompts, but not benefit prompts, modulate sentencing recommendations in laypeople

et al. 2020

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Do people punish more than they would if the decision costs were more transparent? In two Internet-based vignette experiments, we tested whether juvenile sentencing recommendations among U.S. adults are responsive to variation in the salience of the taxpayer costs and public safety benefits of incarceration. Using a 2 Cost (present vs. absent) x 2 Benefit (present vs. absent) factorial design, Experiment 1 (N = 234) found that exposure to information about the direct costs of incarcerating the juvenile offender reduced sentencing recommendations by about 28%, but exposure to the public safety benefits had no effect on sentences. Experiment 2 (N = 301) manipulated cost-benefit salience by asking participants to generate their own list of costs of incarceration, benefits of incarceration, or an affectively neutral, unrelated word list. Results revealed a similar selective effect whereby sentencing recommendations were reduced in the cost condition relative to the benefits and control conditions, but sentences in the benefit condition did not differ from the control. This combined pattern suggests that laypeople selectively neglect to factor cost considerations into these judgments, thereby inflating their support for punishment, unless those costs are made salient. These findings contribute to the debate on transparency in sentencing.

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Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slippery scales: Cost prompts, but not benefit prompts, modulate sentencing recommendations in laypeople

et al. 2020

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“…Berdejo and Chen (2017) show how judges are influenced by the political climate modifying their decisions when presidential elections are closer. There is also a substantial theoretical literature that studies how behavioral biases and individual motivations shape judicial decisions in both tort and criminal law Shleifer, 2008 andBordalo et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When in Rome... On Local Norms and Sentencing Decisions

Abrams

Galbiati

Henry

et al. 2021

Journal of the European Economic Association

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We study spatial variation in criminal sentencing. We show the existence of local sentencing practices varying widely even across geographically proximate areas. Using compulsory rotation of judges in North Carolina, we find that judges arriving in a new court gradually converge towards local sentencing practices. We provide evidence that convergence in sentencing corresponds to a process of learning about local practices, which is accelerated by the presence of senior judges in the district, and that these sentencing practices are correlated with local norms of behavior. Finally, we discuss the theoretical implications of these results for the optimal design of judicial systems.

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“…As judicial decisions rely on written or oral material, there is yet another factor influencing jurors´ decision, namely, the language used to describe the case. According to Bordalo et al (2015), judicial decisions are often affected by salient aspects of the case, irrespective of being legally relevant or irrelevant. Taking salience theory as a unifying theory to analyze judicial biases, the authors postulate that "jurors' attention is drawn to unusual, extreme or salient attributes of each option" (p. 58) which influence their decisions.…”

Section: The Effect Of Metaphorical Frames On the Decision-making Pro...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Does metaphorical framing influence the decision-making process in a judicial conflict? An empirical study on the case of surrogates

2023

Psychology of Language and Communication

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Does metaphorical framing influence the decision-making process in a judicialconflict? An empirical study on the case of surrogatesMetaphors can be used to influence people´s decision-making processes. In the judicial context, the use of metaphors is widespread, but its influence on the decision-making process in court has rarely been studied. This study aims to empirically determine the influence of metaphorical frames on judicial decision-making processes in the case of a surrogate against the intended parents. Two hundred and four participants were assigned to one of three groups with different metaphorical frames for surrogacy and were instructed to imagine being jurors in a mock trial. To investigate if the participants´ decisions were influenced by the frame used for surrogacy, χ 2 calculations were carried out. Results revealed that the decision-making process of several issues concerning the surrogate, including a penalty fee, was influenced by metaphorical framing. The metaphorical term "mother to rent" might have framed surrogacy as an unemotional business act, leading to resentment in the participants.

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Salience Theory of Judicial Decisions

Cited by 73 publications

References 19 publications

Slippery scales: Cost prompts, but not benefit prompts, modulate sentencing recommendations in laypeople

Slippery scales: Cost prompts, but not benefit prompts, modulate sentencing recommendations in laypeople

When in Rome... On Local Norms and Sentencing Decisions

Does metaphorical framing influence the decision-making process in a judicial conflict? An empirical study on the case of surrogates

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