Jury's out on honesty after study reveals shock views

Published on Sunday 6 September 2009 22:12

A STUDY into perceptions of honest behaviour has revealed a flaw in one of the pillars of the British legal system, experts have warned.

Researchers surveyed 15,000 people and asked for their opinions on whether morally questionable scenarios portrayed honest or dishonest behaviour.

Whereas 98 per cent believed it was dishonest to change a price tag in a shop in order to pay less, just 43 per cent thought it was dishonest for a carer to persuade an elderly patient to change a will in their favour.

This was only slightly more than the number of people who thought it was dishonest to break off the stalk of a broccoli in a supermarket in order to pay only for the florets.

Experts argue the results of their research, called "Honesty Lab", raised serious questions about people's concepts of honesty and the reliability of the jury system.

Central to the way the courts judge crimes of dishonesty is the "Ghosh" test – a legal precedent named for a criminal case involving theft – which asks if an action was dishonest according to the "ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people".

Researcher Dr Stefan Fafinski, a criminologist from Brunel University, told The Scotsman: "We wanted to challenge that to see if we did all think the same about various situations.

"The Ghosh test has undergone quite a lot of academic criticism over the years on the basis that it has been thought to be based on an unattainable standard of honesty.

Co-researcher Dr Emily Finch said even if scenarios were exactly the same in terms of the legal issues they involved, there was a "massive difference" in reactions to them.

She said this sometimes seemed to be based on whether or not the person speaking was likeable, and people were more likely to believe behaviour was dishonest if the victim was an individual, rather than a "soulless" corporation.

The findings are being presented at the start of the British Science Festival at the University of Surrey in Guildford.

IN NUMBERS

PERCENTAGE of people taking part in the online survey who thought these scenarios were dishonest:

Buying goods online using a colleague's shopping account 98.4

Setting fire to garage to make insurance claim 98.3

Switching price labels so lower price paid 98.2

Taxi driver taking too high a fare from a foreign passenger 98.2

Picking up lottery ticket in street and claiming if it wins 66

Downloading music for free online 58.3

Taking food home from hotel kitchen 55.5

Knowingly buying a pirate DVD at market 48.9

Carer persuades elderly patient to change her will in her favour 42.9

Not pointing out error if undercharged in department store 37

Picking up and keeping money found lying in the street 31.6