Sentencing, and the Psychology of Justice

Alt L J Vol 32;3 September 2007

5 Pages Posted: 6 Dec 2013

See all articles by Julia Davis

Julia Davis

University of South Australia - School of Law

Date Written: September 3, 2007

Abstract

Melvin Lerner is a pioneering social psychologist who has devoted his academic life to studying our passionate attachment to the idea of justice. He coined the phrase 'Just World Delusion' to refer to our need to believe that the world is a just place, where people not only 'get what they deserve' but where, depending on their behaviour and their personal' attributes, they also appear to deserve the fate that life has given them.

Our deeply intuitive desire to see the world as just, secure and morally balanced is so strong that if we observe an injustice that threatens this 'deluded belief' we will often eliminate the threat by re-construing the event so that justice appears to be done. Lerner explains that when people have no rational means to eliminate these threats, they can resort to three unconscious, non-rational tactics that allow them to reinterpret the injustice so that it seems to disappear.

Keywords: sentencing, justice, psychology

Suggested Citation

Davis, Julia, Sentencing, and the Psychology of Justice (September 3, 2007). Alt L J Vol 32;3 September 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2362710

Julia Davis (Contact Author)

University of South Australia - School of Law ( email )

GPO Box 2471
Adelaide SA 5001
Australia
83027209 (Phone)
83027128 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://people.unisa.edu.au/Julia.Davis

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