Micro versus Macro Perspective on Retributive Justice, Punishment Goals, and the Demand for Punishment

Oswald, Margit E.; Orth, Ulrich; Hupfeld, Jörg (2003). Micro versus Macro Perspective on Retributive Justice, Punishment Goals, and the Demand for Punishment. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 34(4), pp. 227-241. Huber 10.1024/0044-3514.34.4.227

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The reactions of people to criminal offences and their goals of punishment have rarely been a subject of psychological research, so far. The present paper studies the dimensional structure of preferences for punishment goals. In two surveys, laypersons assessed case vignettes of offences (robbery, assault, fraud, rape). The multivariate results consistently show that punishing goals may be characterized by two independent dimensions: punitivity and micro versus macro perspective of retributive justice. A macro perspective leads to higher weighting of the concerns of society and the goal of positive general prevention. The micro perspective, on the other hand, is related to the conviction that justice has to be created in particular from the perspective of those persons actually involved. Dependent on the degree of punitivity the micro perspective can be either related to a bias in favor of the victim, and the goal of retaliation, or in favor of the offender, and the goal of rehabilitation.

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