Does an education in law protect against the influence of ideology on legal decision-making? : an experimental investigation

This study explores whether legal education can shield individualsfrom the influence of personal ideology in the legal decision-making process. Drawing from the Polish legal context, where thepublic is strongly divided on several ideological issues, we investi-gated how law students’ political beliefs impact their judgment insimulated judicial cases. We hypothesized that more advancedlegal training would reduce the preference for decisions concor-dant with students’ (N = 254) political ideologies. We did not findsupport for that hypothesis. Instead, we interpret the findings in anexploratory fashion. We found that first-year students were morelikely to make judgments aligned with their ideological views.However, higher-year students exhibited a trend toward decisionsdiscordant with their ideology, suggesting an overcorrection. Thesefindings highlight the complex interaction between legal educa-tion, ideology, and impartiality, suggesting that legal training fos-ters impartiality but may also lead to overcompensation. The studyunderscores the importance of balanced teaching strategies topromote unbiased decision-making and avoid ideological overcor-rection. Further research is needed to investigate these dynamics invarious legal and educational contexts.