Date of Award
Spring 5-21-2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department/Program
Forensic Psychology
Language
English
First Advisor or Mentor
Mark Fondacaro
Second Reader
Joshua Clegg
Third Advisor
Natalie Gordon
Abstract
Justifications for punishment are generally grounded in retribution or consequentialism. Retribution presupposes a belief in free will, claiming that offenders freely and rationally choose to commit a criminal act, and are therefore deserving of punishment. Consequentialism does not necessitate a reliance on free will, and views punishment as means to a valuable end. In recent years, neuroscientific research has challenged the notion of free will, providing one pathway for a public shift away from retribution and towards consequentialism. However, methods by which to instill this doubt in laypeople are still being discovered. To date, no studies have attempted to instill free will doubt by providing participants with biopsychosocial effects of trauma, despite evidence showing that traumatic experiences may involuntarily influence behavior. This study used a 2 (biopsychosocial information, neutral information) x 2 (juvenile offender, adult offender) between-subjects design and measured beliefs in free will and justifications for punishment. Results showed a main effect of trauma informed psychoeducation on free will beliefs, such that individuals who watched a trauma video had lower free will beliefs compared to individuals who watched a control video. Effects of trauma informed psychoeducation on sentence severity and on justifications for punishment were nonsignificant. Mediation analyses showed that perceived culpability had an indirect effect on the relations between trauma informed psychoeducation and retribution [-.3106, -.0339], consequentialism [-.1257, -.0013], and punishment severity [-.3117, -.0327], In a sense, we have taken the initial steps toward the development of a new method by which to facilitate a shift in public perception away from retribution.
Recommended Citation
Lazar, Rachel, "Fight, Flight, and Free Will: How Knowledge of Biopsychosocial Effects of Trauma Influence Free Will Beliefs and Punishment for Juvenile and Adult Offenders" (2019). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/jj_etds/116