Vehicular heatstroke: how do extralegal factors influence perceptions of blame, responsibility, forgiveness and punishment?

ABSTRACT

There is very little empirical evidence about how vehicular heatstroke cases are treated by the criminal justice system. Previous research demonstrates a wide disparity in legal outcomes for cases involving vehicular heatstroke, ranging from acquittals to charges of child neglect or murder. To better understand how specific factors could potentially impact justice outcomes for vehicular heatstroke cases, two experiments were designed. In Experiment 1, participants (n = 146) read a scenario involving an infant hot car death, where the mother's workplace (bar or church) and perceived parenting character (perceived as a bad parent or good parent) were manipulated. In Experiment 2, participants (n = 161) read a scenario where the parent's sex (mother or father) and parenting character were varied. The results from both experiments indicated that participants were more likely to assign responsibility for the child's death when the parent was perceived as having a bad parenting character. It was also found (in Experiment 2) that participants were more likely to forgive the parent with a bad parenting character if they were a mother rather than a father. These findings suggest that extralegal factors could influence legal decisions for vehicular heatstroke cases.

KEYWORDS:

• Vehicular heatstroke
• hot cars
• legal decisions
• extralegal factors

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data and materials that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Morgan E. Kaltwang.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the University of South Carolina Upstate Office of Sponsored Awards and Research Support for their partial support of this project through a Student Research Assistantship Grant and the Department of Psychology for partial funding.