Intuitions of Punishment

Recent work reveals, contrary to wide-spread assumptions, remarkably high levels of agreement about how to rank order, by blameworthiness, wrongs that involve physical harms, takings of property, or deception in exchanges. In The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice (http://ssrn.com/abstract=952726) we proposed a new explanation for these unexpectedly high levels of agreement. Elsewhere in this issue, Professors Braman, Kahan, and Hoffman offer a critique of our views, to which we reply here. Our reply clarifies a number of important issues, such as the interconnected roles that culture, variation, and evolutionary processes play in generating intuitions of punishment

The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice

Contrary to the common wisdom among criminal law scholars, empirical evidence reveals that people\u27s intuitions of justice are often specific, nuanced, and widely shared. Indeed, with regard to the core harms and evils to which criminal law addresses itself-physical aggression, takings without consent, and deception in transactions-the shared intuitions are stunningly consistent across cultures as well as demographics. It is puzzling that judgments of moral blameworthiness, which seem so complex and subjective, reflect such a remarkable consensus. What could explain this striking result? The authors theorize that one explanation may be an evolved predisposition toward these shared intuitions of justice, arising from the advantages that they provided, including stability, predictability, and the facilitation of beneficial exchange-the cornerstones to cooperative action and its accompanying survival benefits. Recent studies in animal behavior and brain science are consistent with this hypothesis, suggesting that moral judgment not only has biological underpinnings, but also reflects the effects of evolutionary processes on the distinctly human mind. Similarly, the child development literature provides evidence of predictable stages in the development of moral judgment within each individual, from infancy through adulthood, that are universal across all demographics and cultures. The current evidence does not preclude alternative explanations. Shared views of justice might arise, for example, through general social learning. However, a social learning explanation faces a variety of difficulties. It assumes that individuals will adopt norms good for the group at the expense of self-interest. It assumes an undemonstrated human capacity to assess extremely complex issues, such as what will be an efficient norm. It predicts that the significant variation in circumstances among different groups would give rise to commensurately different norms and variation in the effectiveness of teaching them. It is inconsistent with the developmental data that show intuitions of justice appearing early, before social learning of such complexity is possible. And, finally, a general social learning explanation predicts views of justice as accessible, reasoned knowledge, rather than the inaccessible, intuitive knowledge that we know them commonly to be. Whatever the correct explanation for the consensus puzzle, intuitions of justice seem to be an inherent part of being human and this, in turn, can have important implications for criminal law and criminal justice policy

Realism, Punishment, and Reform

Professors Donald Braman, Dan Kahan, and David Hoffman, in their article Some Realism About Punishment Naturalism, to be published in an upcoming issue of the University of Chicago Law Review, critique a series of our articles: Concordance and Conflict in Intuitions of Justice (http://ssrn.com/abstract=932067), The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice (http://ssrn.com/abstract=952726), and Intuitions of Justice: Implications for Criminal Law and Justice Policy (http://ssrn.com/abstract=976026). Our reply, here, follows their article in that coming issue. As we demonstrate, they have misunderstood our views on, and thus the implications of, widespread agreement about punishing the core of wrongdoing. Although much of their attack is therefore misplaced, important disagreements may remain concerning: whether there is a meaningful difference between core and non-core cases; whether judgments about core cases are less malleable than judgments about non-core cases; and whether imposing punishments perceived to be unjust imposes, in turn, significant costs on the criminal justice system. Which of the disputed views is correct can have important implications for the administration of criminal justice. Far from being anti-reformists, as accused, we argue that Reform Realism is the most effective path to bringing about needed reforms

Realism, Punishment & Reform [A Reply to Braman, Kahan, and Hoffman, Some Realism About Punishment Naturalism”]

Professors Donald Braman, Dan Kahan, and David Hoffman, in their article Some Realism About Punishment Naturalism, to be published in an upcoming issue of the University of Chicago Law Review, critique a series of our articles: Concordance and Conflict in Intuitions of Justice (http://ssrn.com/abstract=932067), The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice (http://.ssrn.com/abstract=952726), and Intuitions of Justice: Implications for Criminal Law and Justice Policy (http://.ssrn.com/abstract=976026). Our reply, here, follows their article in that coming issue. As we demonstrate, they have misunderstood our views on, and thus the implications of, widespread agreement about punishing the core of wrongdoing. Although much of their attack is therefore misplaced, important disagreements may remain concerning: whether there is a meaningful difference between core and non-core cases; whether judgments about core cases are less malleable than judgments about non-core cases; and whether imposing punishments perceived to be unjust imposes, in turn, significant costs on the criminal justice system. Which of the disputed views is correct can have important implications for the administration of criminal justice. Far from being anti-reformists, as accused, we argue that Reform Realism is the most effective path to bringing about needed reforms

The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice

Contrary to the common wisdom among criminal law scholars, the empirical evidence reveals that people\u27s intuitions of justice are often specific, nuanced, and widely shared. Indeed, with regard to the core harms and evils to which criminal law addresses itself – physical aggression, takings without consent, and deception in transactions – the shared intuitions are stunningly consistent, across cultures as well as demographics. It is puzzling that judgments of moral blameworthiness, which seem so complex and subjective, reflect such a remarkable consensus. What could explain this striking result? The authors theorize that one explanation may be an evolved predisposition toward these shared intuitions of justice, arising from the advantages that they provided, including stability, predictability, and the facilitation of beneficial exchange – the cornerstones to cooperative action and its accompanying survival benefits. Recent studies in animal behavior and brain science are consistent with this hypothesis, suggesting that moral judgment-making not only has biological underpinnings, but also reflects the effects of evolutionary processes on the distinctly human mind. Similarly, the child development literature reveals predictable stages in the development of moral judgment within each individual, from infant through adult, that are universal across all demographics and cultures. The current evidence does not preclude alternative explanations entirely. Shared views of justice might arise, for example, through general social learning. However, a social learning explanation faces a variety of difficulties. It assumes individuals will adopt norms good for the group at the expense of self-interest. It assumes an undemonstrated human capacity to assess extremely complex issues, such as what will be an efficient norm. It predicts the existence of only differences in views of justice, to reflect the wide differences among groups, their situations, and cultures producing different efficient norms and different effectiveness in teaching the same. It is inconsistent with the developmental data that show intuitions of justice appearing early, before social learning of such complexity is possible, and that show identical intuitions arising at parallel times despite cultural differences that would affect social learning. And, finally, a general social learning explanation predicts views of justice as accessible, reasoned knowledge, rather than the inaccessible, intuitive knowledge that we know it commonly to be. Whatever the correct explanation for the consensus puzzle, intuitions of justice seem to be an inherent part of being human and this, in turn, can have important implications for criminal law and criminal justice policy. Available for download at http://ssrn.com/abstract=95272

Directly or indirectly? The role of social support in the psychological pathways underlying suicidal ideation in people with bipolar disorder

Contemporary theories of suicide, such as the Schematic Appraisals Model (SAMS), hypothesize that negative perceptions of social support are implicated in the pathways to suicidal experiences. The SAMS predicts that perceived social support influences suicidal ideation through appraisals of defeat and entrapment. However, such pathways have not been investigated with people who have bipolar disorder. This prospective four-month study tested the influence of perceived social support on later suicidal ideation via changes in defeat, entrapment, and hopelessness, in a sample of eighty euthymic participants with bipolar disorder (N = 62 at follow-up). Linear regression models tested the extent to which perceived social support at baseline predicted changes in suicidal ideation at four months directly and indirectly via changes in defeat, entrapment, and hopelessness. Perceived social support did not directly predict changes in suicidal ideation, but there was a significant indirect mediational pathway between perceived social support at baseline and changes in suicidal ideation over time, via changes in defeat, entrapment and hopelessness, supporting the SAMS. Psychological interventions which target negative perceptions of social support early, in tandem with addressing defeat, entrapment and hopelessness over time, present a potentially effective approach to counter suicidal ideation in people who experience bipolar disorder

Are species-area relationships from entire archipelagos congruent with those of their constituent islands?

Copyright © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.AIM To establish the extent to which archipelagos follow the same species–area relationship as their constituent islands and to explore the factors that may explain departures from the relationship. LOCATION Thirty-eight archipelagos distributed worldwide. METHODS We used ninety-seven published datasets to create island species–area relationships (ISARs) using the Arrhenius logarithmic form of the power model. Observed and predicted species richness of an archipelago and of each of its islands were used to calculate two indices that determined whether the archipelago followed the ISAR. Archipelagic residuals (ArcRes) were calculated as the residual of the prediction provided by the ISAR using the total area of the archipelago, standardized by the total richness observed in the archipelago. We also tested whether any characteristic of the archipelago (geological origin and isolation) and/or taxon accounts for whether an archipelago fits into the ISAR or not. Finally, we explored the relationship between ArcRes and two metrics of nestedness. RESULTS The archipelago was close to the ISAR of its constituent islands in most of the cases analysed. Exceptions arose for archipelagos where (i) the slopes of the ISAR are low, (ii) observed species richness is higher than expected by the ISAR and/or (iii) distance to the mainland is small. The archipelago's geological origin was also important; a higher percentage of oceanic archipelagos fit into their ISAR than continental ones. ArcRes indicated that the ISAR underpredicts archipelagic richness in the least isolated archipelagos. Different types of taxon showed no differences in ArcRes. Nestedness and ArcRes appear to be related, although the form of the relationship varies between metrics. MAIN CONCLUSIONS Archipelagos, as a rule, follow the same ISAR as their constituent islands. Therefore, they can be used as distinct units themselves in large-scale biogeographical and macroecological studies. Departure from the ISAR can be used as a crude indicator of richness-ordered nestedness, responsive to factors such as isolation, environmental heterogeneity, number and age of islands

Differences between the impact regimes of the terrestrial planets: implications for primordial D:H ratios

It is often assumed that the terrestrial worlds have experienced identical impact regimes over the course of their formation and evolution, and, as a result, would have started life with identical volatile budgets. In this work, through illustrative dynamical simulations of the impact flux on Venus, the Earth, and Mars, we show that these planets can actually experience greatly different rates of impact from objects injected from different reservoirs. For example, we show scenarios in which Mars experiences far more asteroidal impacts, per cometary impactor, than Venus, with the Earth being intermediate in value between the two. This difference is significant, and is apparent in simulations of both quiescent and highly stirred asteroid belts (such as could be produced by a mutual mean-motion resonance crossing between Jupiter and Saturn, as proposed in the Nice model of the Late Heavy Bombardment). We consider the effects such differences would have on the initial volatilisation of the terrestrial planets in a variety of scenarios of both endogenous and exogenous hydration, with particular focus on the key question of the initial level of deuteration in each planet's water budget. We conclude that each of the terrestrial worlds will have experienced a significantly different distribution of impactors from various reservoirs, and that the assumption that each planet has the same initial volatile budget is, at the very least, a gross over-simplification

Neodymium isotopic variations in North Pacific modern silicate sediment and the insignificance of detrital REE contributions to seawater

The neodymium isotopic composition of the silicate fraction of Holocene pelagic sediments from the North Pacific define two provinces: a central North Pacific province characterized by unradiogenic and remarkably homogeneous [epsilon]Nd (-10.2 +/- 0.5) and a narrow circum-Pacific marginal province characterized by more radiogenic and variable [epsilon]Nd (-4.2 +/- 3.8). The silicate fraction in the central North Pacific is exclusively eolian; based on prevailing wind patterns, meteorological data, and neodymium isotopic data, the only significant sediment source is Chinese loess. Leaching experiments on Chinese loess confirm that leachable Nd is isotopically indistinguishable from bulk and residual silicate Nd. Silicates in the circum-North Pacific marginal province comprise eolian loess, volcanic ash, and hemipelagic sediments derived from volcanic arcs. A compilation of Pacific seawater and Mn nodule [epsilon]Nd data shows no clear spatial variation except for a general decrease from surface to deep waters from -3 to -4 and slightly lower [epsilon]Nd in bottom waters along the western North Pacific due to the incursion of Antarctic Bottom Water. The relative homogeneity of bottom water [epsilon]Nd, which contrasts sharply with the distinctive variation in sediment [epsilon]Nd, plus the large difference between the average [epsilon]Nd of bottom waters and the central North Pacific eolian silicates ( -4 vs. -10), suggests that any contribution of REE to seawater from eolian materials is insignificant. Furthermore, leaching of REE from eolian particles as they sink though the water column must be insignificant because Nd in shallow waters is more radiogenic than Nd in deeper waters. That there is no contrast in the Nd isotopic composition of bottom waters that overlie the central and marginal sediment provinces suggests that the ash and hemipelagic sediments derived from Pacific rim volcanic arcs also contribute minimal REE to seawater. The elimination of eolian, ash, and hemipelagic sediments leaves only near-shore riverine particulates as a possibly significant particulate source of REE to seawater.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/31272/1/0000178.pd

“Hot” and “Cold” Cognition in Users of Club Drugs/Novel Psychoactive Substances

Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are popular “club/party” drugs that first attracted attention in the UK in 2009 and remained legal until the 2016 Psychoactive Substances Act criminalized their distribution. Unlike “traditional” illicit drugs, very little is known about the influence of their analogs on neuropsychological functioning. We characterized the cognitive and emotional profile of NPS/polydrug users using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) and EMOTICOM test battery in adult male (aged 20–49 years) recreational users without psychiatric comorbidities (n = 27; “psychonauts”), service users attending a UK specialist “Club Drug” Clinic for problematic use (n = 20) and healthy control volunteers without significant drug-taking histories (n = 35). Tasks were selected to distinguish “hot” cognitive processes that are highly influenced by emotion from “cold” cognitive processes that are largely independent of emotional influence. Both user groups reported significantly higher sensation-seeking traits compared with non-users. Recreational NPS users demonstrated more risk-taking behavior compared with controls and treatment-seeking NPS users showed poorer learning, episodic memory and response inhibition compared with the other two groups. These effects persisted, when controlling for age, intelligence, alcohol and cannabis use severity, nicotine dependence, trait anxiety, depression, childhood adversity, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. Overall, recreational NPS users showed elevated “hot” (emotion-laden) cognition in the absence of “cold” (non-emotional) cognitive deficits, whereas “cold” cognitive dysfunction was pronounced in individuals seeking treatment for problematic NPS use. High trait impulsivity and poor self-control may confer additional risk to NPS/polydrug use severity and separate those seeking treatment from those using NPS recreationally