Justice versus vengeance: motives underlying punitive judgements

The present study was designed to address the question of whether justice and vengeance motives can be differentiated and clearly delineated within the judicial process. The study used a multi-stage approach in the development of the Justice-Vengeance Scale. Exploratory factor analysis (102 males, 118 females) and confirmatory factor analysis (123 males, 200 females) yielded a four-factor multi-dimensional measure that differentiates between attitudes toward justice and vengeance, as well as between different dimensions underlying these motives (vengeance-sentence, vengeance-emotion, justice-fairness, justice-legal). The implications and utility of the Justice-Vengeance scale in future research are discussed.