Jurors’ Emotions and Judgments of Legal Responsibility and Blame: What Does the Experimental Research Tell Us?

Emotion Review (2015 Forthcoming)

21 Pages Posted: 3 Aug 2015

See all articles by Neal Feigenson

Neal Feigenson

Quinnipiac University - School of Law

Date Written: March 31, 2015

Abstract

Jurors’ emotions, both integral and incidental, can affect their attributions of legal responsibility and blame in several, sometimes complexly interrelated ways. The article reviews the experimental research, outlining the multiple paths of emotional influence, and explains why identifying them is worthwhile. It then discusses why the modest-to-moderate effect sizes found in the research may understate emotions’ actual influence in some cases yet overstate it in others, and discounts moral intuitionism as a reason for believing that emotional influences in real cases are stronger than the experimental data indicates. The article concludes with recommendations for further research.

Keywords: emotions, responsibility, blame, judgment, judges, jurors

Suggested Citation

Feigenson, Neal, Jurors’ Emotions and Judgments of Legal Responsibility and Blame: What Does the Experimental Research Tell Us? (March 31, 2015). Emotion Review (2015 Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2638364 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2638364

Neal Feigenson (Contact Author)

Quinnipiac University - School of Law ( email )

275 Mt. Carmel Ave.
Hamden, CT 06518
United States

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