Authoritarians punish lower-status offenders far more harshly than higher-status ones.

Evidence

Other studies help us make sense of these seemingly contradictory findings regarding the status of criminals. RWA scores correlated negatively with the sentences imposed upon a police officer who beat an “uppity” protestor (RWA, pp. 197-199). They also correlated negatively with punishment of a U.S. Air Force officer convicted of murder. The case paralleled the My Lai massacre; the officer had led unauthorized bombing raids against Vietnamese villages suspected of supporting the enemy (RWA, p. 233). Similarly, High RWA American students did mot want to punish Richard Nixon after he resigned (RWA, pp. 226-227). Finally, High RWAs showed another pronounced double standard in the sentencing of pro-gay versus anti-gay activists (EOF, pp. 112-114). If an anti-gay leader led an attack on a group of gay demonstrators, High RWAs tended to be lenient. But if it were the other way around, they became significantly more punitive. (Again, Lows punished the two assailants equally.) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 303 (#expands, via linked claim)

We often do not realize our double standards because we compartmentalize our thinking, keeping matters that ought to be connected unconnected. Since High RWAs compartmentalize their thinking a lot, we can expect them to have lots of double standards. Thus we saw in Chapter 1 several criminalsentencing experiments that uncovered bad faith in right-wing authoritarians’ attitudes toward justice. Recall how High RWAs punished a prisoner who beat up another prisoner more than they punished a police chief who did the same thing. They punished a hippie who started a fight with an accountant more than the accountant if the roles were reversed. And they sentenced a gay activist who led an attack on opponents more than an anti-gay activist who did the same in a flip-flop situation. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1457 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Criminal populations scored highest on authoritarianism, not as rebels but as conservatives — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 514; Status groups punish fraudulent pretenders more harshly than ordinary members. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 233; Authoritarian punitiveness targets low-status offenders and spares authority figures. (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Authoritarian punitiveness targets low-status offenders and spares authority figures. #expands (0.95)
• High authoritarian punitiveness targets low-status offenders, not authority figures or in-group allies #expands (0.95) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 303
• Right-wing authoritarians apply harsher judgments to low-status or out-group offenders for identical acts. #corroborates (0.92) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1457