Understanding Punishment Responses to Drug Offenders: The Role of Social Threat, Individual Harm, Moral Wrongfulness, and Emotional Warmth

Abstract

The harm that drugs cause to users and society is the typical rationale for the regulation of illicit drugs and the punishment of drug offenders. However, what factors actually influence people's punishment responses to drug offenses? A sample of 196 residents of Wellington, New Zealand completed measures that assessed their perceptions of the social threat caused by drugs, the harm of drugs, their feelings of emotional warmth towards drug offenders, and their perceptions of the moral wrongfulness of drug offenses. They then assigned punishment to different drug offenses. Perceptions of moral wrongfulness was the best predictor of punishment responses across offense types, although perceptions of individual harm and social threat also independently predicted punishment to, respectively, cannabis-use offenses and cannabis-sale offenses. The results of this study suggest that the amount of punishment deemed appropriate for different drug offenses is most strongly influenced by individuals' perceptions of the moral wrongfulness of drug offending.