Abstract

GANGLOFF, Bernard  and  HARDY-MASSARD, Sandrine. Attributive criteria of sanction and “professional culture”: comparative approach in the naive versus “expert” justice. Interam. j. psychol. [online]. 2006, vol.40, n.1, pp. 21-36. ISSN 0034-9690.

Speaking about professional culture generally makes reference to the norms and values of individuals practising a same profession. We make here the hypothesis that the magistrate and the psychologist possess a specific professional culture driving them, when sanctioning, to use their own criteria. To verify it, we submitted to three populations (students in law, in psychology, and naive people) a questionnaire of eight situations in which an individual committed an infringement to a legal or normative rule. Each situation ended by the presentation of three information related to three criteria (a total of 18 criteria) and the task consisted to inflict a sanction to the delinquent. Our results show that, in order to this attribution, each of our populations use others criteria that those anticipated by the law, criteria which also differ between the three populations. These differences can constitute one of the explanations of the incomprehension that we sometimes feel with regard to some verdicts returned by the courthouses.

Keywords : Justice; Attribution of sanction; Professional culture; College students-psychology; College students-law.

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