This article delves into the multifaceted realm of sentencing decisions within the U.S. criminal justice process, investigating the intricate interplay of legal, social, and individual factors. Beginning with an overview of the criminal justice process, the discussion centers on the legal factors shaping sentencing outcomes, such as statutory guidelines, legal precedents, and criminal history considerations.
The term “news factors” denotes characteristics of news stories about events and topics that contribute to making them newsworthy. Other than events (e.g., the attacks on the US of September 11, 2001) and topics (terrorism), news factors like “damage” are scientific constructs, which can be related to all kinds of events or topics. News factors
Mediating factors are the psychological and social conditions in the communication process that moderate the effects of persuasive mass communication. The concept was first introduced by Joseph T. Klapper in his influential book The effects of mass communication (1960). Sifting through empirical studies available in the late 1950s, Klapper identified five mediating factors that explain
People differ in many respects, some important, some trivial. Personality traits are among the individual-difference characteristics that are important and powerful in explaining human behavior in the world of work. Myriad psychological characteristics can be used to describe people and distinguish them from one another. For example, in the English language, in excess of 12,000
Career indecision has been an important area of concern in vocational psychology for the last 50 years. An extensive body of research has examined the nature of career indecision, the factors (sometimes labeled barriers) that contribute to career indecision, the consequences of career indecision, and the effectiveness of interventions for career indecision. Most of this
Human factors (HF) is a multidisciplinary area that aims to understand and support the interactions between a human user and other elements of a sociotechnical system. Because human factors research addresses psychological, social, biological, and other task-related parameters of interactions between humans or between a human and a technical system in the context of work
Risk factors for suicide and self-harm among offenders are separated by offenders’ location within the criminal justice system and include demographic and psychosocial correlates of suicide and self-harm. This is a topic of importance within criminal psychology because offenders are at greater risk of experiencing suicide-related distress and self-harm than the general population. For example
Identifying and treating the problems or factors related to criminal and violent behavior are important for both prevention and intervention. Likewise, identifying and increasing protective factors—those factors that make it less likely that an individual will engage in criminal or violent behaviors—are developing strengths in significance. This article reviews the rationale for considering protective factors
Human factors (HF) is a multidisciplinary area that aims to understand and support the interactions between a human user and other elements of a sociotechnical system. Because human factors research addresses psychological, social, biological, and other task-related parameters of interactions between humans or between a human and a technical system in the context of work
This article explores the intricate relationship between psychosocial factors and heart disease, leveraging data from the Framingham study. Beginning with a concise overview of heart disease’s global impact, the introduction underscores the imperative of understanding psychosocial influences on cardiovascular health. The subsequent sections delve into the nuanced associations between stress, social support, and mental health