Kimberly Schweitzer | University of Wyoming (original) (raw)

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Papers by Kimberly Schweitzer

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2015

• Knowledge and desire affect blame through different routes. • Knowledge and desire affect perce... more • Knowledge and desire affect blame through different routes. • Knowledge and desire affect perception of each other, perception of related mental states, and immorality. • Knowledge affects perceived awareness through blame. • Desire affects blame through judgments of agent immorality and perceived awareness.

Wyoming Law Review, 2016

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Law Archive of Wyoming Scholarship. It... more This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Law Archive of Wyoming Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wyoming Law Review by an authorized editor of Law Archive of Wyoming Scholarship.

Psychology Crime & Law, 2021

Experimental Psychology

. Automobile accidents are a frequent occurrence in the United States and commonly result in lega... more . Automobile accidents are a frequent occurrence in the United States and commonly result in legal ramifications. Through a fundamental attribution error (FAE) framework ( Ross, 1977 ), the current research examined how individuals perceive blame and negligence in these cases. In Study 1 ( N = 360), we manipulated the driver (you vs. stranger) of a hypothetical accident scenario and the situational circumstances surrounding the accident (favorable vs. unfavorable). Supporting the FAE, individuals' situational blame attributions only varied as a function of situational circumstances when they themselves were hypothetically driving. However, neither the driver nor the situation significantly predicted dispositional blame attributions. Yet, Study 1 provided initial support for the importance of an individual's trait tendency to neglect situational constraints when making dispositional blame attributions. In Study 2 ( N = 212), we again manipulated situational circumstances surrounding the hypothetical accident, but within the context of a mock civil trial. Results provided additional support for the importance of this trait tendency and expanded our findings of dispositional blame attributions to perceptions of negligence. Implications include the importance of considering trait individual differences in the likelihood to ignore situational demands when individuals are making legally relevant judgments about automobile accidents.

Applied Cognitive Psychology

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

Criminal Justice Policy Review

The use of sanctions in community supervision has received considerable attention in recent years... more The use of sanctions in community supervision has received considerable attention in recent years. Fueled in large part by the attention given to the swift, certain, and fair (SCF) sanctioning model, many agencies have adopted sanctioning programs, which often rely heavily on the use of short-term jail incarceration. In addition to jail, there exist a number of alternative, community-based punishments that can be utilized to respond to instances of noncompliance, including enhanced drug testing and community service hours. Little is known, however, about how individuals perceive community-based sanctions compared with jail. This study addresses this issue by examining perceptions of sanctions among individuals under community supervision. Survey findings indicate that community-based punishments are not viewed as being substantially less punitive than jail incarceration. In addition, perceptions of sanction severity are influenced by a variety of individual, experiential, and superv...

Criminal Justice and Behavior

Obtaining employment has been shown to reduce recidivism among formerly incarcerated individuals,... more Obtaining employment has been shown to reduce recidivism among formerly incarcerated individuals, but many face discrimination when applying for jobs. The current research examined how the length of incarceration and the time since an applicant was released from prison affected the likelihood of the applicant being hired. Community members ( N = 688) nationwide were randomly assigned to read one of 10 different resume and job application pairings in which the length of incarceration (15 months, 5 years, or 10 years) and time since release from prison (2 weeks, 3 months, or 1 year) were varied. Participants then decided whether to hire the applicant and answered questions regarding his morality. Results indicated that perceived morality of the applicant mediated the relationship between hiring decisions and felon status. Applicants with a felony were perceived to be less moral, which then made them less likely to be hired. Implications are discussed.

Violence and Victims

Although the Supreme Court has ruled that victim impact statements (VIS) should be allowed at tri... more Although the Supreme Court has ruled that victim impact statements (VIS) should be allowed at trial, the concern voiced in Payne v. Tennessee (1991) and Furman v. Georgia (1972) was that VIS might enable jurors to make comparative judgments about the worth of the victim. This study examined the effect VIS and low and middle socioeconomic status (SES) victims have on jurors’ decisions. Mock jurors listened to 1 of 3 audio recordings of the sentencing phase of a capital murder trial (no VIS, low SES VIS, or middle SES VIS) and were asked to sentence the defendant to either life in prison without parole or death. Results indicated VIS themselves did not significantly affect mock jurors’ sentencing decisions. However, mock jurors who heard the middle SES victim VIS were significantly more likely to sentence the defendant to death compared to those who heard the low SES victim VIS. The results suggest that the concerns of the Supreme Court were valid. Mock jurors were impacted by SES inf...

Police Quarterly

We conducted two studies, wherein participants from across the United States watched, heard, or r... more We conducted two studies, wherein participants from across the United States watched, heard, or read the transcript of an actual police shooting event. The data for Study 1 were collected prior to media coverage of a widely publicized police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. Results indicated that participants who could hear or see the event were significantly more likely to perceive the shooting was justified than they were when they read a transcript of the encounter. Shortly after the events in Ferguson, Missouri, we replicated the first study, finding quite different results. Although dissatisfaction with the shooting was seen in all forms of presentation, video evidence produced the highest citizen perceptions of an unjustified shooting and audio evidence produced the least. Citizens were nonetheless overwhelmingly favorable to requiring police to use body cameras. Body-mounted cameras with high-quality audio capabilities are recommended for police departments to consider.

Criminal Justice and Behavior, 2017

The present study tested the effects of angry and sad victim impact statements (VIS) on jury elig... more The present study tested the effects of angry and sad victim impact statements (VIS) on jury eligible participants’ decisions. Death qualified participants ( N = 581) watched the penalty phase of a capital trial that varied the presence and emotional content of the VIS (angry, sad, or no VIS) along with the strength of mitigating evidence (weak or strong). Results revealed that Angry VIS led to an increase in death sentences, whereas Sad VIS did not. Furthermore, participants who reported becoming angry during the trial were more likely to render a death sentence, but participants who became sad during the trial were not. No interaction was found between VIS and strength of mitigating evidence, but participants exposed to the angry VIS did rate the mitigating evidence as less important to their decisions. The results indicate that VIS are not inherently biasing, nor are all emotions equally impactful on sentencing decisions.

Policing and Society, 2017

Advances in Psychology and Law, 2016

The Journal of Social Psychology