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"Pluralistic Ignorance and Punitiveness Towards Illicit Drug Users: Reactions to the Drug Fiends of Yesteryear and the Politicians of Today"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this interesting piece I just noticed on SSRN by Matthew Kugler and John Darley.  Here is the abstract: Three studies found that Americans have less punitive attitudes towards drug users than expected.  In Study 1, participants (N = 204) assign trivial punishments to cocaine users who have no prior criminal record and aggravate sentences only slightly when faced with users who have histories of moderate to severe crimes, in contrast to current legal guidelines.  In Study 2, participants (N = 166) assign the same penalties to a violent offender regardless of whether that offender is described as being a drug addict, only aggravating the sentence of the drug user if that scenario was presented after one describing a non-user...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 11, 2010 (boomark / email).