Citation

Waaland P, Keeley S. Law Hum. Behav. 1985; 9(4): 355-366.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1007/BF01044476

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Investigated the impact of legal and extralegal information on 26 male and 10 female patrol officers' (aged 23-36 yrs) decision-making policies for wife abuse, using regression analysis. Individual differences in Ss' propensity to arrest abusive husbands were also examined. Ss made responsibility and prescriptive judgments based on simulated police reports describing 7 sources of information ("cues"). Regression analyses indicated that victims' extralegal behavior generally was the primary determinant of responsibility assigned to both victims and assailants. However, legal prescriptions were based primarily on legally relevant information. Implications of the obtained judgment policies as well as use of the regression methodology in legal decision-making research are discussed. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)