Finally, we discuss the need for research into alternative interventions for fostering legitimacy and compliance that engage with offenders’ moral beliefs directly, potentially restorative justice.

It was an honor to build on classic debates between @lindaskitka.bsky.social and Tom Tyler on procedural justice and moral conviction — debates that also appeared in PSPB!

Moral agreement with the punished act was a much stronger predictor of perceived legitimacy and compliance intentions than information about punisher’s procedural justice reputation. These patterns were also replicated in our sample of criminalized participants.

Across five experiments, we found that punishing morally agreeable acts undermines punisher legitimacy and reduces people's willingness to comply with the law in general. This was also true when we introduced a specific, new law unrelated to the punished act.