An empirical investigation of emotion and the criminal law: towards a "criminalization bias"?

This interdisciplinary study combines philosophy of law with empirical cognitive science to explore the role of emotion in criminalization decisions. The study hypothesizes that affective processes, specifically disgust, influence the decision to criminalize behavior, particularly virtual child pornography. An online study (N=1402) examined criminalization ratings of four vignettes varying in harmfulness and disgustingness. Results indicate that virtual child pornography was criminalized more readily than a financially harmful vignette, and disgust sensitivity correlated with criminalization decisions, especially for virtual child pornography. These findings suggest emotion's relevance in shaping criminalization decisions and raise the possibility of a "criminalization bias".

Jozef N. Coppelmans, Fieke M. A. Wagemans, Lotte F. van Dillen