Ana M. Martín

Effects of Differential Status of Group Members on Process and Outcome of Deliberation

Decision making groups, including European juries, often contain factions differing in status. Mock juries composed of trained and layperson status factions decided guilt and punishment for realistic cases of university code violations. Cases presented predominantly intellective or judgmental issues, and juries had to justify verdicts according to facts alone, or facts and values. Compared to laypersons, trained factions influenced group decisions more, but only in judgmental cases, or when having to include values in justification. They more actively discussed the judgmental cases, and engaged more than laypersons in normative influence. Trained jurors appear to wield social/normative power, impacting judgmental issues more. Consistent with their minority status, laypersons engage in more informational than normative influence. The fact that laypersons are as active in discussing intellective cases as are trained members, and are equally informational in their style of influence, enhances their impact when deciding issues that revolve around gathering facts to reach a correct decision.

Understanding world jury systems through social psychological research

1. Introduction and Overview Part 1: Pure (Lay) Juries 2. The Jury System in the United State of America 3. Cross-Border Diversity: Trial by Jury in England and Scotland 4. Lay Participation in Legal Decision-Making in Australia and New Zealand: Jury Trials and Administrative Tribunals 5. Psychological Perspectives on Spanish and Russian Juries 6. American Military Courts-Martial: Processes and Procedures of Trials and Decisions Part 2: Mixed (Lay and Professional) Juries 7. Issues and Prospects in European Juries: An Overview 8. Juries in Italy: Legal and Extra-Legal Norms in Sentencing 9. Human Justice or Injustice? The Jury System in France 10. Social-Psychological Implications of the Mixed Jury in Poland 11. Lay Judges in the German Criminal Court: Social-Psychological Aspects of the German Criminal Justice System 12. On Designing a Mixed Jury System in Japan

The enhancement effect of social and employment integration on the delay of recidivism of released offenders trained with the R & R programme

Abstract The aim of this study is to assess the extent to which social and employment integration enhances the efficacy of social–cognitive training carried out in prison through a Spanish adaptation of the Reasoning & Rehabilitation (R & R) programme. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare a group of inmates who received only social–cognitive training with a group of inmates who also received social and employment integration and with a comparison group who received neither of these interventions. The total sample was composed of 117 repeat offenders, serving sentence for property offences, drug dealing and offences against the person. The results obtained through a Kaplan–Meier survival analysis after a 6-year follow-up indicate that both intervention groups are significantly different from the comparison group. The group that received social and employment integration had the highest level of delayed recidivism, but the difference with the group that only received social–cognitive training was not statistically significant. The results are discussed in relation to the Good Lives Model and to the Risk–Needs–Responsivity Model of offender rehabilitation.

Discussion Content and Perception of Deliberation in Western European Versus American Juries

Jury research has dealt almost exclusively with the American system wherein 6-12 laypersons decide verdicts under a unanimity or non-unanimity rule. However, most Western European countries follow the escabinado system, in which laypersons and judges together decide verdict and sentence, under a non-unanimous rule. We experimentally compared the processes and outcomes of both types of juries. Under the guise of a Student Judicial panel, seven undergraduate students in Spain comprised 10 juries, whereas five undergraduates and two fifth-year Law students comprised 10 escabinado juries. We assessed pre- and post-discussion verdict, penalty, and confidence, discussion content, and subjective reactions to the discussion and outcome. Escabinado jury deliberations were driven by the imbalance of power between trained and lay jurors. Escabinado and lay juries differed in their perception of the deliberation but not in their outcomes. Implications for the impact of cultural differences and task requirements in jury decision-making are drawn.

At the end of a fairy tale: romantic relationships in female juvenile offenders

This study explores romantic relationships among female juvenile offenders. The entire female population of a juvenile detention center at the moment of the study participated in a semi-structured interview. Using a semi-structured interview, the girls answered questions on four main topics: (a) available dating partners before entering the detention center; (b) dating partner preferences; (c) intimate relationships within the center; and (d) romantic relationships. A 34-item scale was also used to assess their dating partner preferences. Most girls depicted dysfunctional families and a reduced range of dating options, many involving male offenders. Most participants had also been precocious in their relationships and experienced victimization at the hands of their intimate partners. Implications to prevent female involvement with criminal and violent men are discussed.

Influence of environmental perception of the neighbourhood on place attachment: The impact of the physical care of the neighbourhood

Abstract The present study examines the influence of perception of neighbourhood crowding, noise, danger, and physical care on neighbourhood attachment. To this end, a total of496 Spanish students from Barcelona and La Laguna participate in this study. In order to control for the variable time of residence, only natives of the neighbourhood were selected as participants, completing an anonymous self-reporting questionnaire. A Path Analysis was applied using perception of environmental factors of the neighbourhood as predictive variables and neighbourhood attachment as criteria variable. The results show that the perceptions of physical care and of danger in the neighbourhood are the variables that directly influence attachment. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of intervention for enhancing care behaviours in the neighbourhood.

Pro-environmental motivation and regulation to respect environmental laws as predictors of illegal anti-environmental behaviour / La motivación pro-ambiental y la motivación para respetar las leyes medioambientales como predictoras de la conducta anti-ecológica ilegal

Abstract Psychological research into illegal anti-environmental behaviour is scarce because this type of behaviour is difficult to analyse and conceptualize. Motivational variables and, in particular, regulation mechanisms can help to explain this type of environmentally significant behaviour. The aim of this research is to analyse the relationship between pro-environmental motives and illegal anti-environmental behaviour. A total of 311 university students completed a questionnaire that included a Spanish translation of the Motivation Toward the Environment Scale, questions about illegal anti-environmental behaviour and regulation to respect environmental laws. The results indicate that the factor structure of the scale, obtained by means of confirmatory factor analysis, is the same as the one proposed by its authors. Furthermore, we ascertained that pro-environmental motives predict pro-environmental and also illegal anti-environmental behaviour, but that the percentage of explained variance is higher when using regulation to respect environmental laws.

Utilizan las personas legas las mismas categorías de transgresiones medioambientales que las administraciones públicas

Resumen Las transgresiones medioambientales son quebrantamientos de las leyes de protección medioambiental (LPMA) que constituyen una forma peculiar de comportamiento ilegal desde un punto de vista jurídico y psicosocial. Las LPMA incluyen comportamientos muy variados, tan distintos entre sí como para requerir criterios de valoración diferentes. En este estudio se analizaron las respuestas de 196 estudiantes universitarios, residentes en un territorio de alta protección medioambiental, a un cuestionario compuesto por 20 transgresiones medioambientales habituales en su contexto inmediato, que debían valorar en 14 escalas. Los resultados mostraron que las dimensiones del espacio perceptivo de los participantes son consistentes con las obtenidas con otras muestras, episodios, escalas y procedimientos estadísticos. Estas dimensiones permitieron clasificar correctamente un 85% de las transgresiones en relación a tres categorías utilizadas habitualmente por la Administración pública, siendo la predicción más acertada para las transgresiones contra el medio natural que para la contaminación y las actividades constructivas.

Evaluación de los comportamientos relacionados con el Medio Ambiente en programas televisivos de ficción

Resumen Los estudios sobre la representación del medio ambiente en televisión muestran, en general, una baja aparición de contenidos ambientales y una representación sesgada de los mismos. Con el fin de evaluar la presencia y representación de estos contenidos en programas de ficción en la televisión española, se analizaron 44 horas de programación infantil y familiar de distintas cadenas nacionales. A través de un sistema de jueces se realizó un análisis de contenido, valorando las conductas pro-ambientales y los comportamientos anti-ecológicos. Los resultados indican una escasa presencia de contenidos medioambientales (un 16% del total analizado), así como una clara ausencia de consecuencias asociadas cuando aparecen comportamientos anti-ecológicos (en el 78% de los casos no hubo ninguna consecuencia). Los personajes que llevan a cabo tanto los comportamientos contra el medio como los pro-ambientales son mayoritariamente masculinos. Estos resultados se discuten en relación con la repercusión que puede tener esta representación del medio ambiente sobre las actitudes y comportamientos de los espectadores y la infrautilización del tipo de contenidos evaluados en la educación ambiental y la promoción de comportamientos pro-ambientales.