Punishment after Life: How Attitudes about Longer-than-Life Sentences Expose the Rules of Retribution

TL;DR

People support prison sentences longer than a person's lifespan, suggesting retribution, not deterrence, drives punishment decisions.

Contribution

The study reveals that retributive heuristics, not practical deterrence, explain support for longer-than-life sentences.

Findings

Participants supported consecutive life sentences more than concurrent ones for serious offenders.

Support for posthumous sentences adjusted with mitigating factors similarly to regular sentences.

Policy support for consecutive life sentences remained strong regardless of cost or default options.

Abstract

Prison sentences that exceed the natural lifespan present a puzzle because they have no more power to deter or incapacitate than a single life sentence. In three survey experiments, we tested the extent to which participants support these longer-than-life sentences under different decision contexts. In Experiment 1, 130 undergraduates made hypothetical prison sentence-length recommendations for a serious criminal offender, warranting two sentences to be served either concurrently or consecutively. Using a nationally representative sample (N = 182) and an undergraduate pilot sample (N = 260), participants in Experiments 2 and 3 voted on a hypothetical ballot measure to either allow or prohibit the use of consecutive life sentences. Results from all experiments revealed that, compared to concurrent life sentences participants supported the use of consecutive life sentences for serious offenders. In addition, they adjusted these posthumous years in response to mitigating factors in a manner that was indistinguishable from ordinary sentences (Experiment 1), and their support for consecutive life sentencing policies persisted, regardless of the default choice and whether the policy was costly to implement (Experiments 2 and 3). These judgment patterns were most consistent with retributive punishment heuristics and have implications for sentencing policy and for theories of punishment behavior.

Figures