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Beyond Retribution : Understanding When and Why People Favour Restorative Justice over Traditional Punishment
Kolde, N.S. (2025) Beyond Retribution : Understanding When and Why People Favour Restorative Justice over Traditional Punishment.
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| Abstract: | Public perception of justice approaches plays a central role in implementing restorative and retributive practices within the justice system. Research relates justice preferences to an interplay of contextual factors, such as perceived seriousness and the choice of justice options, and individuals’ characteristics, including moral foundations and worldviews. This study employs a within-subjects design to examine public perception of justice approaches across six crime case vignettes of varying severity and explore the role of moral foundations and worldviews in justice preferences. Participants (N = 82) chose among three justice approaches: (1) a purely retributive sentencing process, (2) a restorative procedure with impact on sentencing, or (3) a parallel restorative procedure without impact on sentencing and rated the perceived appropriateness of each justice option across all cases. In line with the hypotheses, as perceived crime seriousness increases, participants were more likely to choose a parallel restorative justice approach without impact on sentencing, while they rated a purely retributive sentencing process as highly appropriate. However, neither worldview was examined as a mediator of the relationship between the hypothesised justice choice preference or appropriateness rating of the justice option. These findings call for future research on restorative justice in legal practice and how more specific characteristics such as political orientation shape public perception of justice approaches. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/107001 |
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