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From What topics can I ask about here?, these topics are allowed to ask:

  • Statutes or court decisions
  • Legal terms and language, doctrines and theory
  • Legal process and procedure
  • Historical legal applications
  • Dealing with legal professionals

However, if I have a question regarding the psychology of the people relating to legal activities, would that be on-topic?

Below is an example:

How likely abusers actually be aware of the hurt they made after having legal issue?

When there is an abuse happening, usually the perspectives of each side are:

  • Police and social worker: How to protect the victim?
  • The abuser: How to get out of trouble?

These goals are different, but not incompatible. The process of getting the children out of harm's way might involve court-ordered parenting classes, anger management, or other skills-building; it might involve supervised visits or group therapy; there are all kinds of things that would potentially raise their awareness, give them other options, model reasonable parenting styles, etc. However, even though the abuser does learn that acting that way will have legal consequences, there is still a possibility that they might never learn awareness that what they do is harmful. Sometimes long-term care can do that, but they drive people away before it has a chance to happen. It seems that sometimes we have to accept that they won't change.

I wonder how likely they will be aware of the hurt they made after having such legal consequences?

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if I have a question regarding the psychology of the people relating to legal activities, would that be on-topic?

No. Psychology SE is more appropriate.

Questions such as "How likely abusers actually be aware of the hurt they made after having legal issue?" are off-topic because they mostly require speculation on a criminal's mental processes, which might themselves be detached from legal reasoning before, during, and after any court proceedings brought against that criminal.

The closest types of sources (with respect to Law SE) for addressing this kind of questions are:

  • inferences one could make from court proceedings where the defendant has a history of prosecution [for different crimes] in between arrests and/or court proceedings; and

  • testimony from expert witnesses and [subject-matter] authorities that happen to be referenced in court decisions.

The latter is more readily available from psychologists than from people versed in legal matters.

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  • Just a nit pick: I don't think "how likely..." type of question is speculation, because it's just a statistic, and psychologists may have tests to probe one's mental processes. Anyway, from the two bullets I think law questions are more about interpretations of legal texts and statements?
    – Ooker
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 15:36
  • @Ooker I agree. I mentioned "speculation" because that is the only thing a person acquainted mostly with sources such as court holdings and statements of legislative intent can do regarding a criminal's psychology. Statistics and akin aggregates hardly ever are brought up in those sources (and mostly for policymaking). "law questions are more about interpretations of legal texts and statements?" Yes, for the most part. Also about how reality contrasts with what the law prescribes, although the two items I listed are the closest ones to the type of questions you describe.
    – Iñaki Viggers
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 17:03
  • Just to be clear, do you mean my example question is more about policy making rather than law? What is the difference between policy and law? I suppose in a research paper about law, one can cite a psychological statistic?
    – Ooker
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 6:43
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    @Ooker "do you mean my example question is more about policy making rather than law?" My point is that, although a policymaker might consider statistics as empirical sources for his initiative, neither legislation nor case law reflects those sources in a way that would be any useful for addressing the example question. "in a research paper about law, one can cite a psychological statistic?" Research papers on law focus on the history, intent, interpretation, and ramifications of laws, not on the statistics the legislator(judge) consulted toward enacting(construing) those laws.
    – Iñaki Viggers
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 11:06

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