[zacinbusiness]

Is it? I wonder how one's sense of fairness is altered by their relative emotional state? For instance, someone who has been emotionally compromised by seeing scenes of brutality may well vote a harsher penalty on the perpetrator of a similar act than someone who has not (I'm thinking childhood abuse, rape, that sort of thing). Note that I am in no way saying that abuse or rape is justifiable or anything, or that there shouldn't be harsh penalties, I'm just saying that I wonder if someone who has experienced a brutal crime may have a stronger "justice response" to similar crimes than someone who has not. My reason for thinking this is to consider how rapes are handled in the U.S. where many (male) lawmakers treat it as a relatively minor situation while at the same time they have never, and likely will never, experience anything similar.