The Reasonable Person Standard: Psychological and Legal Perspectives

Author(s):  
Mark D. Alicke ◽  
Stephanie H. Weigel

In criminal cases of self-defense and provocation, and civil cases of negligence, culpability is often decided with reference to how a reasonably prudent person (RPP) would have behaved in similar circumstances. The RPP is said to be an objective standard in that it eschews consideration of a defendant's unique background or characteristics. We discuss theory and evidence suggesting that in morally relevant judgments, including those involving negligence, self-defense, and provocation, the tendency to rely on the self—on one's own values and predilections—dominates considerations of the RPP. We consider subjective standards that have been proposed as alternatives to the RPP and review research on this topic. We conclude by considering avenues for future research, particularly addressing conditions in which self-standards of reasonableness are most likely to prevail. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Volume 17 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Author(s):  
LaFleur Stephens-Dougan

This article reviews the literature on the persistence of racial cues and appeals in American elections. I focus on three central themes: racial priming, the influence of the Obama presidential campaigns on racial cues, and racial appeals in the context of a diversifying United States. I identify linkages across these domains while also suggesting avenues for future research. I argue that in the context of a diversifying United States, scholars should develop more measures that capture attitudes that are specific to groups other than African Americans. The nation's growing racial and ethnic diversity is also an opportunity to develop and test more theories that explain the political behavior of racial and ethnic minorities beyond the traditional black–white divide. Finally, since much of the research on racial cues focuses on whites’ racial animus, I suggest that scholars spend more time exploring how racial cues influence the behavior of whites with positive racial attitudes. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 24 is May 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


2021 ◽  
pp. 305-320
Author(s):  
Hallie Liberto

Those accused of sexual coercion and unjustified killing can defend themselves in American courts by arguing that a reasonable person in their situation could have held an exonerating belief—respectively: a belief in another person’s sexual consent, or another person’s murderous intentions. In this chapter, Liberto argues that this reasonable belief standard is problematic. Liberto presents an alternative suggestion by Donald Hubin and Karen Healey with regard to cases of sexual coercion that she labels the “reasonable expectation from state” (REfS) standard. Liberto argues that adopting a REfS standard for adjudicating both self-defense and sexual coercion cases is better than the “reasonable person” standard. However, contra Hubin and Healey, Liberto argues that expectations from the state towards victims of these criminal cases—expectations that ascribe epistemic responsibility to the victims—are misdirected.


Derecho PUCP ◽  
2014 ◽  
pp. 505-509
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Pérez-León Acevedo

Following American legal sources, I argue that the use of the reasonable person standard in criminal law is inaccurate and unfair, and, therefore, inconvenient to evaluate human behaviour based on three arguments which address flaws of the standard under analysis. Firstly, this standard is  by definition  abstract, theoretical  and  general, not  reflecting appropriately the person’s sensory and ideational perception of the situation. Secondly, the trend in American legislation and case-law is to apply, in criminal cases, e.g., self-defence, a hybrid criterion, which consists in the consideration of a person’s belief and the correspondence of such a belief to what a reasonable person would believe under the circumstances, as opposed to a purely objective standard. The principle of individual criminal culpability underlies this. Thirdly, the reasonable person standard imposes a sort of majority’s dictatorship by perpetuating a predominant culture disregarding the viewpoints from minority groups.


Author(s):  
Stefanie Walter

In recent years, the world has seen a rising backlash against globalization. This article reviews the nature, causes, and consequences of the globalization backlash. It shows that, contrary to a popular narrative, the backlash is not associated with a large swing in public opinion against globalization but is rather a result of its politicization. The increasing influence of globalization-skeptic actors has resulted in more protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist policies, some of which fundamentally threaten pillars of the contemporary international order. Both material and nonmaterial causes drive the globalization backlash, and these causes interact and mediate each other. The consequences are shaped by the responses of societal actors, national governments, and international policy makers. These responses can either yield to and reinforce the global backlash or push back against it. Understanding these dynamics will be an important task for future research. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 24 is May 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


Author(s):  
Sarah Knuckey ◽  
Joshua D. Fisher ◽  
Amanda M. Klasing ◽  
Tess Russo ◽  
Margaret L. Satterthwaite

The human rights movement is increasingly using interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, mixed-methods, and quantitative factfinding. There has been too little analysis of these shifts. This article examines some of the opportunities and challenges of these methods, focusing on the investigation of socioeconomic human rights. By potentially expanding the amount and types of evidence available, factfinding's accuracy and persuasiveness can be strengthened, bolstering rights claims. However, such methods can also present significant challenges and may pose risks in individual cases and to the human rights movement generally. Interdisciplinary methods can be costly in human, financial, and technical resources; are sometimes challenging to implement; may divert limited resources from other work; can reify inequalities; may produce “expertise” that disempowers rightsholders; and could raise investigation standards to an infeasible or counterproductive level. This article includes lessons learned and questions to guide researchers and human rights advocates considering mixed-methods human rights factfinding. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Volume 17 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


Author(s):  
Xiuling Yang ◽  
Yinzi Li ◽  
Aiming Wang

Potyviruses (viruses in the genus Potyvirus, family Potyviridae) constitute the largest group of known plant-infecting RNA viruses and include many agriculturally important viruses that cause devastating epidemics and significant yield losses in many crops worldwide. Several potyviruses are recognized as the most economically important viral pathogens. Therefore, potyviruses are more studied than other groups of plant viruses. In the past decade, a large amount of knowledge has been generated to better understand potyviruses and their infection process. In this review, we list the top 10 economically important potyviruses and present a brief profile of each. We highlight recent exciting findings on the novel genome expression strategy and the biological functions of potyviral proteins and discuss recent advances in molecular plant–potyvirus interactions, particularly regarding the coevolutionary arms race. Finally, we summarize current disease control strategies, with a focus on biotechnology-based genetic resistance, and point out future research directions. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Phytopathology, Volume 59 is August 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Shujuan Yang ◽  
Peng Jia

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses wide-ranging impacts on the physical and mental health of people around the world, increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners on the topic of resilience. In this article, we review previous research on resilience from the past several decades, focusing on how to cultivate resilience during emerging situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic at the individual, organizational, community, and national levels from a socioecological perspective. Although previous research has greatly enriched our understanding of the conceptualization, predicting factors, processes, and consequences of resilience from a variety of disciplines and levels, future research is needed to gain a deeper and comprehensive understanding of resilience, including developing an integrative and interdisciplinary framework for cultivating resilience, developing an understanding of resilience from a life span perspective, and developing scalable and cost-effective interventions for enhancing resilience and improving pandemic preparedness. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 73 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


Author(s):  
Alexandra E. Hill ◽  
Izaac Ornelas ◽  
J. Edward Taylor

The labor supply response to agricultural wages is critical to the viability of crop production in high-income countries, which hire a largely foreign farm work force, as well as in low-income countries, where domestic workers move off the farm as the agricultural transformation unfolds. Modeling agricultural labor supply is more challenging than modeling the supply of other agricultural inputs or of labor to other sectors of the economy owing to unique features of agricultural production and farm labor markets. Data and econometric challenges abound, and estimates of agricultural labor supply elasticities are sparse. This review explains the importance and challenges of modeling farm labor supply and describes researchers’ efforts to address these challenges. It summarizes estimates of agricultural labor supply elasticities over the last 80 years, provides insights into variation in these estimates, identifies priority areas for future research, and reviews the most influential empirical work related to this important topic. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Resource Economics, Volume 13 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


Author(s):  
Boris Kozinsky ◽  
David J. Singh

The performance of thermoelectric materials is determined by their electrical and thermal transport properties that are very sensitive to small modifications of composition and microstructure. Discovery and design of next-generation materials are starting to be accelerated by computational guidance. We review progress and challenges in the development of accurate and efficient first-principles methods for computing transport coefficients and illustrate approaches for both rapid materials screening and focused optimization. Particularly important and challenging are computations of electron and phonon scattering rates that enter the Boltzmann transport equations, and this is where there are many opportunities for improving computational methods. We highlight the first successful examples of computation-driven discoveries of high-performance materials and discuss avenues for tightening the interaction between theoretical and experimental materials discovery and optimization. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Materials Science, Volume 51 is August 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen G. Maguire

Clinical trials for conditions affecting the visual system need to not only conform to the guidelines for all clinical trials, but also accommodate the possibility of both eyes of a single patient qualifying for the trial. In this review, I present the interplay of the key components in the design of a clinical trial, along with the modifications or options that may be available for trials addressing ocular conditions. Examples drawn from published reports of the design and results of clinical trials of ocular conditions are provided to illustrate application of the design principles. Current approaches to data analysis and reporting of trials are outlined, and the oversight and regulatory procedures to protect participants in clinical trials are discussed. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Vision Science, Volume 7 is September 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


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