British annual Festival of Science kicks off and will be shining a light on some very off-beat research
WHICH IS worse, pressuring an older person to benefit you in their will or wearing an expensive piece of clothing once before returning it to the shop as unused? Understanding why twice as many people viewed the latter as “dishonest” may help us understand how juries make their decisions, new research indicates.
Our collective view of what is right and what is wrong is unexpectedly inconsistent, according to Dr Stefan Fafinski and Dr Emily Finch, criminal lawyers from Brunel University. They decided to test public views of what is dishonest and whether they would tend to convict if serving as a juror.
They presented their findings at the British Science Association’s annual Festival of Science, which kicked off over the weekend at the University of Surrey in Guildford.
“The law is based upon an assumption that the majority of people in society hold the same views about what conduct is dishonest,” the researchers stated. “Our research challenges that assumption as we found that there is a great deal of disagreement amongst people even upon very basic situations, such as finding money in the street or taking stationery home from work.”
They conducted an online survey of more than 15,000 people, asking them to watch filmed clips of actors describing situations and then deciding whether something dishonest had occurred.
There was no ambiguity about those who have taken the odd pen or few sheets of paper home from the office, with 76.5 per cent of respondents viewing this as dishonest, although admitting that they were prepared to do it again.
The work threw up some surprising findings however, for example that twice as many people thought it was wrong to wear a dress once and then bring it back to the shop as unused, compared with a carer pressurising an elderly woman to change her will in the carer’s favour. Just 42.9 per cent of people thought the carer dishonest compared with 85.8 per cent for the person flexing the truth with the returned clothing.
If you think this comparison extreme, then consider the supplementary findings that just 21 per cent of people would have convicted the carer of having committed an offence. And 14 per cent said they would try to do such a thing themselves.
The study’s authors believe that the findings provide insights into how juries act when asked to assess guilt and make the momentous decision to convict.
“We have some scenarios that are exactly the same in terms of the legal issue that they involve, but we have seen a massive difference in reaction to them and it seems to be based upon whether or not the person speaking is likeable,” Dr Finch explained.
"When we like people or feel sorry for them, we are far less likely to condemn what they have done, so this has a major effect on whether or not their conduct is rated as honest or dishonest." The Festival of Science runs until Thursday 10th September and during this week The Irish Timeswill be publishing daily reports from the proceedings.
Subjects to be covered range from the weighty such as climate change and depletion of marine resources to the remarkable; for example how we can do mental exercises to improve memory.