ABSTRACT

Why do some victims of criminal atrocities mobilize the public while others do not? I argue that victims’ socioeconomic background systematically biases citizens’ evaluations. I use experimental methods to assess this claim among a representative sample of citizens and elites interviewed during the Mexican war on drugs. I find citizens to be more likely to dismiss victims as responsible for their misfortune when they come from lower socioeconomic strata, and that this bias is concentrated among elite and high-socioeconomic-status citizens. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the psychology of victim-blaming and the origins of justice inequality.

摘要

为什么有些刑事暴行受害者动员公众，而另一些却没有动员？我认为受害者的社会经济背景会系统地偏向公民的评价。我使用实验方法来评估墨西哥毒品战争期间接受采访的公民和精英的代表性样本中的这一主张。我发现，当公民来自较低社会经济阶层时，他们更有可能认为受害者对自己的不幸负责，而且这种偏见集中在精英和具有较高社会经济地位的公民中。这些发现对我们理解受害人的心理和司法不平等的根源具有重要意义。