Common Attitudes to the Fairness of Legal Decisions.

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to examine 1) the role of norms of fairness in distribution and procedure in assessing legal decisions and 2) the factors which influence the choice of norms. The results demonstrate that all the norms of fairness in both distribution and procedure, which were revealed by the studies in Western Europe and Noth America, are equally effective in evaluating the fairness of legal decision by Russian respondents. Yet ascribing to the norms of fairness in procedure appears more important than to the norms of fairness in distribution. The main factors influencing the choice of norms is the type of legal decision, the extend of its fairness and the presence of serious evidence of the suspect's guilt.