Revital Ludewig

Are prosecutors influenced in their decisions and if so, are they aware of it? Swiss prosecutors (N = 179) responded to this question in a two-part study in forensic psychology. In the first part, they completed a questionnaire on the extent to which they are consciously aware of factors that influence their decisions. In the second part, they responded to vignettes of offenses with and without moral dilemmas. Prosecutors indicated whether these factors influenced their decisions and particularly, whether offenses with and without moral dilemmas had a different effect on the severity of punishment. The results confirm that "legally legitimate" factors such as "prior criminal record" and the "severity of the offense" strongly influence prosecutors while factors that are "not legally legitimate" such as "sex" and "nationality" of the accused have less of an influence on prosecutor’s decision-making. Their awareness of the differences between legally mandate factors and ethically biasing factors can be observed in how these factors were rated to influence their own and their colleagues’ decision-making. Prosecutors rated that they were more influenced by legally appropriate factors than their colleagues were. Conversely, their colleagues’ decisions were more influenced by non-legitimate biasing factors than their own. Increasing proscecutors’ sensitivity and awareness of factors that influence their decisions would result in better-balanced decision-making.