Honesty Lab

Is the current test of dishonesty in the criminal law of England and Wales fair?

The Honesty Lab was designed to explore public perceptions of honesty and dishonesty and to investigate whether we all agree on what conduct is honest and dishonest. Under current criminal law, there is no positive definition of dishonesty, but a defendant is found to have acted dishonestly if they were aware that their conduct was dishonest according to the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people and they themselves realised that this was the case.

Honesty Lab has investigated whether there is a common standard of dishonesty in today’s society and considered whether other factors affect our judgement of honest or dishonest acts: for example how the ‘defendant’ looks and whether or not we can relate to the person or act in question.

Initial findings were presented at the British Science Festival at the University of Surrey on Thursday 10 September 2009.

Honesty Lab is supported by the British Science Association and sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council.

The British Science Association and ESRC are pleased to support the Science: [So what? So everything] campaign.