The Role of Alcohol Intoxication on Sentencing by Judges and Laypersons: Findings From a Binational Experiment in Germany and France

• Author: Laurent Bègue,Oulmann Zerhouni,Fabien Jobard
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1057567720953874
• Published date: 01 June 2023
• Date: 01 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Original Articles

Original Article

The Role of Alcohol

Intoxication on Sentencing

by Judges and Laypersons:

Findings From a Binational

Experiment in Germany

and France

Laurent B`

egue

1

, Oulmann Zerhouni

2

, and Fabien Jobard

3

Abstract

Existing studies do not provide consistent results regarding the role of alcohol intoxication on sen-

tencing, and little is known about the specificity of sentencing by judges when compared to the general

population. In this study, we experimentally investigated the influence of the level of alcohol intox-

ication on the sentence given to a defendant who had committed an act of physical aggression toward

another person. A large sample of judges (N¼1,207) and a representative sample from the general

population (N¼1,972) from both Germany and France were randomly assigned to a written depiction

of an assault case in which the protagonist had either previously drunk no alcohol, or 0.50 L, or 1.5 L of

beer. The respondents were then asked to assign a sentence to the defendant from a range of pre-

defined options. Based on previous studies on sentencing among judges, we hypothesized that they

would deliver harsher sentences than the participants from the general population contrary to the

“myth of judicial leniency.” Moreover, following attribution theory, we hypothesized that alcohol

consumption would decrease the severity of the sentence chosen by the participants from the general

population. It was expected that the judges would not be influenced by alcohol information because in

both France and Germany, alcohol is not considered to be an aggravating factor in crime according to

national laws. The results showed that irrespective of the level of alcohol intoxication, the judges

recommended harsher sentences than the participants from the general population and tended to rely

on fewer sentence options. However, contrary to our expectations, in both countries, the prota-

gonist’s level of intoxication did not influence sentencing severity.

Keywords

sentencing, Courts/Law, alcohol, France, Germany, aggression

1

LIP/PC2S, University Grenoble Alpes, France

2

Paris Nanterre University, France

3

Center Marc Bloch, Berlin, Germany

Corresponding Author:

Laurent B`

egue, University Grenoble Alpes, 1251 Avenue Centrale, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble, France.

Email: laurent.begue@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr; laurent.begue@msh-alpes.fr

International CriminalJustice Review

ª2020 Georgia State University

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1057567720953874

journals.sagepub.com/home/icj

202 Vol. 3

–

2) 147 1593, 3(