Doctoral Dissertation Research: Why Do We Punish? Crime and Punishment as Purveyors of Social Status

博士论文研究：我们为什么要惩罚？

• 批准号: 0318011
• 负责人: John Darley
• 金额: $ 1.05万
• 依托单位: Princeton University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-07-15 至 2005-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0318011&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Why; Do

Classic understandings outline four general motivations to punish: general deterrence of potential wrongdoers, specific deterrence of individual wrongdoers (usually via incapacitation), rehabilitation, and retribution. Recently, empirical psychologists have ascertained that people are mostly motivated by retribution when assigning punishments for criminal wrongdoing. Interestingly, the benefits of retribution are the least obvious of the four outlined motivations. Deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation, if successful, provide the punisher peace of mind by reducing future wrongdoing. Why should people be willing to expend the costs of punishment simply to exact retribution for past wrongs? What does it provide the avenger? This study tests the value that individuals and communities receive from exercising their retributive impulses against criminal wrongdoers. The researchers hypothesize that retribution cures the complex symbolic wounds that wrongdoers inflict on their victims and society. Specifically, being the victim of wrongdoing suggests to the victim that she, and the group of which she is a member, is lower in social status and worth than she had previously thought, because the offender felt entitled to harm her, and because her community did not expend the resources necessary to protect her. By expending resources to catch and punish the offender, the community is refuting that message, and implicitly arguing that in fact she is not deserving of the mistreatment she received. This study tests these propositions by exposing participants to various conditions in which they witness or experience intentional wrongdoing, and in which the wrongdoer is either punished or not. If our hypotheses are correct, then participants should view victims of unpunished crime as lower in worth and social status than they were before the victimization, and victims of punished crime as higher than they were before the punishment. This study illuminates two important social problems. The first concerns imprisonment, which is almost universally acknowledged as expensive, and damaging to inmates, their families, and, sometimes, entire communities. Yet when policy makers suggest alternative punishment regimes that would reduce these problems (like fines, community service, or in-home electronic monitoring), these proposals frequently fail, either by not being adopted of, if adopted, unevenly implemented. The researchers argue that this is so because they do not satisfy the retributive impulse. However, this is not inevitable. If a sanction could be designed that did deliver retribution (such as shaming penalties, or fines coupled with a shorter prison sentence), then society could benefit from the undisputed advantages of punishing their offenders retributively, without incarcerating them for long periods. The second concerns residents of inner city communities. Our thinking suggests there is a strong link between the very high rates of criminal victimization in these communities, and the sense of devaluation by and alienation from the larger society that these residents experience. If policies could be designed that address crime in a way that addresses these complex symbolic consequences of victimization, steps could be taken toward relieving some of the resentment, alienation and sense of helplessness felt by inner city residents.

经典的理解概括了惩罚的四种一般动机：对潜在违法者的一般威慑，对个别违法者的具体威慑（通常通过使其丧失能力），康复和报复。 最近，经验心理学家已经确定，人们在为犯罪行为分配惩罚时，大多数都是出于报复的动机。有趣的是，报复的好处是四个概述的动机中最不明显的。 威慑、失能和康复，如果成功的话，可以减少未来的错误行为，从而使惩罚者安心。 为什么人们愿意花费惩罚的成本仅仅是为了对过去的错误进行报复？ 它能给复仇者带来什么？这项研究测试的价值，个人和社区从行使他们的报复冲动对刑事违法者。 研究人员假设，报复可以治愈作恶者对受害者和社会造成的复杂的象征性创伤。 具体来说，作为不法行为的受害者，对受害者来说，她和她所在的群体的社会地位和价值比她以前认为的要低，因为犯罪者觉得有权伤害她，因为她的社区没有花费必要的资源来保护她。通过花费资源来抓住和惩罚犯罪者，社区反驳了这一信息，并含蓄地争辩说，事实上，她不应该受到她所受到的虐待。这项研究通过将参与者暴露在各种条件下来测试这些命题，在这些条件下，他们目睹或经历了故意的不当行为，并且在这些条件下，违法者要么受到惩罚，要么不受到惩罚。 如果我们的假设是正确的，那么参与者应该认为未受惩罚的犯罪受害者的价值和社会地位低于他们之前的受害者，而受惩罚的犯罪受害者的价值和社会地位高于他们之前的惩罚。 这项研究阐明了两个重要的社会问题。 第一个问题涉及监禁，几乎普遍认为监禁费用昂贵，而且对囚犯、其家人、有时甚至对整个社区造成损害。 然而，当政策制定者提出可以减少这些问题的替代惩罚制度（如罚款、社区服务或家庭电子监控）时，这些建议往往会失败，要么不被采纳，要么即使被采纳，执行情况也不平衡。 研究人员认为，这是因为他们没有满足报复的冲动。 然而，这并非不可避免。 如果可以设计出一种确实能带来报复的制裁（比如羞辱性惩罚，或者罚款加较短的刑期），那么社会就可以从惩罚性惩罚罪犯而不需要长期监禁的无可争议的优势中受益。第二个问题涉及市中心社区的居民。 我们的想法表明，这些社区的高犯罪受害率与这些居民所经历的更大社会的贬低和疏远感之间存在着密切的联系。 如果能够设计出解决犯罪问题的政策，以解决这些受害的复杂象征性后果，那么就可以采取措施来缓解市中心居民的怨恨、疏远和无助感。