The challenge of punitive damages mathematics

Proposals to provide juries with specific numerical instructions for settin g punitive damages should bring greater rationality to punitive damages awa rds. This approach is tested using evidence from 353 jury-eligible citizens who applied these formulas to a series of legal cases. Few respondents ass essed the correct values of punitive damages from the standpoint of deterre nce. Anchoring effects of appeals by a plaintiff's lawyer or media coverage of similar awards lead respondents to abandon the punitive damages formula and set punitive damages based on the anchor. Minorities and the less well educated were particularly unwilling or unable to apply the recommended pu nitive damages formulas.