Commonsense justice and inclusion within the moral community: When do people receive procedural protections from others? (Boeckmann &Tyler, 1997).
This article discussed commonsense in indicting criminals predicated upon public opinions. According to this article, Americans favors severe punishment for those who commit crimes, and that this public feeling is the peak of long-term fashion in punitive reactions toward law breakers. Americans feelings toward capital punishment (the death penalty) and in a series of legislative enactments calling for increased penalties for offenders (mandatory life in prison for people convicted of three felonies) are few examples to cite.
In this study, random sample of 234 adult residents in the California bay area cities were selected. A random sample of homes was also generated by using residential numbers combined with four-digit sequences of random numbers. An interview with the selected person was completed in 71% of the eligible households contacted, which resulted in a final sample of 166 respondents. This study was conducted by telephone surveys.
The sample category consisted of 43% males, and the average age of respondents was 43 years. 66% percent of respondents were European American, 20% African American, 7% Hispanic, and 6% Asian American. 61% percent of respondents had bachelor’s degree or higher, and 39% earned more than $50, 000 per year. 49% described themselves as liberal, 34% as ordinary, and 17% as conservative.
The Study asked question about people willingness to abandon Procedural Protections.
Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with five items: (a), It is better to let 10 guilty people go free than to convict one innocent person by mistake 56% agree and 44% disagree. (b), Judges should be allowed to hold people suspected of felony crime until police get enough evidence to officially charge them 47% agree and 53% disagree. (c), too many people escape punishment due to legal technicalities 85% agree and 15% disagree, this also indicated that they favor capital punishments well. (d),The courts are too concerned about defendant rights 47% agree and 53% disagree and (e),Judges are concerned about the rights of citizens like yourself 47% agree and %53% disagree. These items were aggregated into a single scale α = .63 and p< .01 Concluding their survey in comparison with the alpha and p-valve, they suggested that the perception of a suspect as different from members of a person’s social group is enough to lead to a denial of full procedural protection. Some statistical theories