Decision-making in criminal justice in the light of the psychology: Heuristics and cognitive biases

Abstract

Based on knowledge coming from psychology, this essay seeks first to demonstrate how human beings, using heuristics, think and act to solve problems and make decisions in their day to day. Afterwards, the study seeks to reveal how heuristics are used in decision-making in criminal justice, commenting on the biases and the powers and perils of intuition, emphasizing that the judge should never dispense with rational and logical thinking, developed from the adversary proceeding. Therefore, it is pointed out the need for the judge to know the heuristics and biases of judgment, so that he seeks to make decisions in a more deliberative and less intuitive way, although there is a huge charge for speed in the current times. Finally, the need to provide and demand a multidisciplinary training of judges is reinforced.