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Shock evidence of varying views on dishonesty
A NEW study has revealed wide differences in what men and women view as dishonest, casting new light on how juries view the evidence in criminal trials.
Women are more likely to judge it dishonest to con a clothing store than an elderly patient in a care home, the research suggests.
Over 88 per cent of women believed buying a dress for a special occasion and then returning it to the store and getting a refund was dishonest.
But just 46 per cent took the same view of a care home nurse persuading an elderly patient to change a will in her favour.
Most men had a similar attitude, with 82 per cent thinking it was morally wrong to "borrow" the dress but only 37 per cent disapproving of taking advantage of someone who was elderly and infirm.
The findings suggested that if a jury of 12 men and women was asked to pass a verdict on the care home nurse, only four would want to convict.
In a league table of dishonest acts, conning the elderly care home patient came 13th out of 16 - just one place above snapping off broccoli stalks in a supermarket and weighing the heads.
Downloading music for free off a website was ninth in the list, and claiming the prize after finding a winning lottery ticket in the street sixth. The two actions considered the most dishonest were buying goods online using a colleague's shopping account and setting fire to a garage to make an insurance claim.
A total of 15,000 people in England and Wales took part in the web-based study, called "Honesty Lab", launched in May by two criminologists from Brunel University in conjunction with the British Science Association.
Participants were asked to watch five video clips in which morally questionable behaviour was dramatised.
They were then asked if they thought the actions were dishonest or worthy of conviction in a court of law.
The results raised serious questions about people's concepts of honesty and the reliability of the jury system.
Central to the way the courts judge crimes of dishonesty is the "Ghosh" test, a legal precedent which asks if an action was dishonest according to the "ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people".
But this central pillar of the judicial system looked in danger of crashing down as the study results revealed how varied people's opinions about dishonesty are.
The findings were presented yesterday at the start of the British Science Festival at the University of Surrey in Guildford.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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