Marian Neef

Decision Theory and Juror Decision -Making

This chapter has three purposes. The first purpose is to develop a method for determining the values of jurors regarding their propensities to convict or acquit. The second purpose is to use that method to determine how those propensities differ across types of jurors and cases, and how the propensities influence decisions. The third and main purpose is to discuss how such propensities can be brought more into line with the legal rules which specify that defendants should not be convicted unless they appear to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

What Is and What Should Be In University Policy Studies

A S its title indicates, this article is designed to serve two purposes. The first purpose in the order presented is to describe what is happening in university policy studies activities within political science departments and within interdisciplinary programs. The second purpose is to analyze a set of prescriptions for improving policy studies activities which have been recommended by academics and by government practitioners. By policy studies activities in this context we mean research, teaching, and related activities that deal with the applications of political and social science to the study of the causes and especially the effects of alternative governmental policies. Causes include among other things the role of public administrators in making policies or prospective decisions, and effects include the varied implementation of governmental policies. In order to determine what is and what should

Changing Benefits and Costs to Encourage Lawful and Desired Behavior

The behavior of individuals, business firms, and government officials can be viewed as stemming from their implicit desire to maximize perceived benefits minus costs, taking into consideration monetary and non-monetary elements and the probability that key events, on which those benefits and costs depend, will occur. This perspective emphasizes that encouraging legally desired behavior requires increasing the benefits and decreasing the costs of doing the right thing, increasing the costs and decreasing the benefits of doing the wrong thing, and favorably influenc ing the probabilities of the key contingent events. Such a perspective can be helpful in generating relevant ideas that might otherwise be overlooked, thought of less quickly, or thought of in a less organized way. One can also avoid ideas that might not be so relevant in that they do not substantially affect relevant benefits and costs. Such a perspective can be contrasted with (1) a regulatory one, which emphasizes government orders, enforcement agencies, and penalties, and (2) a rehabilitative orientation, which emphasizes changing the values of wrongdoers rather than altering the situation so that their values motivate them to engage in lawful behavior.