Publication Date
2003
Publication Title
Supreme Court Economic Review
Abstract
Are juries rational or irrational? In the context of punitive damage awards, jury decisions suffer from serious problems. Jurors are intuitive retributivists, in a way that produces departures from economic theories of punishment. Their decisions are rooted in outrage, which they cannot easily translate into dollar terms. The result is a degree of unpredictability and incoherence. An understanding of this point casts light on several problems with existing institutions and offers some clues about how those problems might be solved.
Recommended Citation
Cass R. Sunstein, "On the Psychology of Punishment," 11 Supreme Court Economic Review 171 (2003).
