Public Opinion about Punishment and Corrections

Get tough control policies in the United States are often portrayed as the reflection of the public\u27s will: Americans are punitive and want offenders locked up. Research from the past decade both reinforces and challenges this assessment. The public clearly accepts, if not prefers, a range of punitive policies (e.g., capital punishment, three-strikes-and-you\u27re-out laws, imprisonment). But support for get-tough policies is mushy. Thus citizens may be willing to substitute a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for the death penalty. Especially when nonviolent offenders are involved, there is substantial support for intermediate sanctions and for restorative justice. Despite three decades of criticism, rehabilitation-particularly for the young-remains an integral part of Americans\u27 correctional philosophy. There is also widespread support for early intervention programs. In the end, the public shows a tendency to be punitive and progressive, wishing the correctional system to achieve the diverse missions of doing justice, protecting public safety, and reforming the wayward

Jail Visitation: An Assessment of Organizational Policy and Information Availability

Jail inmates face substantial emotional, economic, legal, and other challenges when they are incarcerated. The extent to which they are able to maintain contacts with individuals on the outside can substantially determine how well they cope with these concerns, and visitation is the primary way that such links may be maintained. To date, no systematic assessment of jail visitation policies has been conducted. The current study examined the availability of visitation policy information and the content of policies for national samples of large and small jails. The results suggest that large jails provide more opportunities for visitation and that they provide more information than small jails. Overall, there exists an opportunity for jails to substantially increase the availability of crucial visitation information. Policy implications are discussed

Assessing juror understanding of capital-sentencing instructions

Although recent research has suggested that juror understanding of sentencing instructions in capital cases is limited, jurors in most slates retain responsibility for determining whether a defendant receives the death penalty. Using data collected from 258 individuals who were called for jury duty in a midwestern city, the present study demonstrates that (1) jurors\u27 comprehension of sentencing instructions is limited, (2) the particular areas of misunderstanding tend to place the defendant at a disadvantage, (3) juror understanding can be improved by rewriting state death penalty pattern instructions, and (4) comprehension levels also may be increased by providing jurors with a written copy of the instructions. Unfortunately, the effects that this research may have on legal policy are unclear. © 1998 Sage Publications, Inc

Intervening With Youthful Substance Abusers: A Preliminary Analysis Of A Juvenile Drug Court

Special drug courts have been established across the country in an effort to provide moreefficient treatment services to drug offenders and to alleviate case-processing difficulties. Although several evaluations have shown promising results for adult drug courts, the evidence on the effects of drug courts for juvenile defendants is scarce. This study analyzes the experiences of a southern juvenile drug court during its first fourteen months of operation. Our results reveal that client retention was comparable to that for adult drug courts, that the drug court was able to improve the participants’ overall level of social and psychological functioning, and that recidivism was significantly reduced and delayed for the program graduates compared to the youths who failed to complete the program. © 2000 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

The Jail And The Community: Comparing Jails In Rural And Urban Contexts

Most of the available research on jails focuses on large institutions, located in urban areas. In this study we empirically consider whether this emphasis shortchanges our understanding of jails by comparing 2,638 rural and urban jails on four dimensions: jail size and use, inmate characteristics, staff characteristics, and inmate services. Our results reveal several important cleavages between rural and urban jails. Based on our findings and a conception of jails as influenced in meaningful ways by their social, political, and organizational contexts, we suggest avenues for future research on local incarceration. © 2008, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved

Testing The Deterrent Effects Of Personal And Vicarious Experience With Punishment And Punishment Avoidance

Stafford and Warr (1993) reconceptualized general and specific deterrence into a single theory in which people\u27s tendencies to commit crimes are based on a combination of personal experiences and vicarious experiences with being punished and avoiding punishment. The authors make a significant contribution to the deterrence literature by considering the effect of punishment avoidance when testing deterrence theory. The present study tests the applicability of Stafford and Warr\u27s reconceptualized theory. The results reveal only partial support for deterrence. We discuss the implications of our findings and make suggestions for future research on deterrence theory. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Intentions To Offend: Examining The Effects Of Personal And Vicarious Experiences With Punishment And Punishment Avoidance

Stafford and Warr (1993) reconceptualized general and specific deterrence into a single theory in which people\u27s tendencies to commit crimes are based on a combination of personal experiences and vicarious experiences with being punished and avoiding punishment. The authors make a significant contribution to the deterrence literature by considering the effect of punishment avoidance when testing deterrence theory. Despite the theoretical appeal of this model, few studies have assessed its empirical merit. The present study tests the applicability of Stafford and Warr\u27s reconceptualized theory by examining people\u27s intentions to drink and drive. The results reveal only partial support for deterrence. We offer suggestions on how future research can clarify why some findings are inconsistent with deterrence theory. © 2006, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Public Views On Sentencing Juvenile Murderers: The Impact Of Offender, Offense, And Perceived Maturity

Concerns about juvenile murderers were raised by increases in juvenile homicide rates between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Little is known, however, about what level of punishment the public desires for such youths. Using a randomly selected sample of Florida citizens and a factorial vignette survey approach, the present study assesses the impact of characteristics of the offender, aspects of the offense, and perceptions of a youth\u27s maturity on public preferences for the punishment of juvenile murderers. Our findings show that the public favors short sentences of incarceration or less punitive responses in most cases and that the most salient determinant of punitiveness is the type of murder committed. These results are discussed in light of prior research and current policy directions. © 2006, Sage Publications. All rights reserved

Public Opinion On The Harshness Of Local Courts: An Experimental Test Of Question Wording Effects

Drawing on framing theory, the present study tests the impact of question wording on people\u27s reported opinions about the harshness of their local courts. A randomized experimental design tested two salient variations against the standard wording used in the National Opinion Research Center\u27s General Social Survey (GSS). The results indicated statistically significant differences, with fewer respondents expressing a desire for greater harshness with the alternative forms than the standard question form. Four of the five correlates that the authors examined also showed differential relationships with punitiveness among the question forms. These findings suggest that scholars should carefully consider the meaning of people\u27s responses when interpreting the GSS question as an indicator of public punitiveness. © 2011 Georgia State University

Testing Deterrence Theory with Offenders: The Empirical Validity of Stafford and Warr\u27s Model

Stafford and Warr (1993) reconceptualized general and specific deterrence into a single theory in which individuals\u27 propensities to engage in crime are based on a combination of personal and vicarious experiences with being punished and avoiding punishment. The current study extends prior tests of this conceptualization of deterrence by expanding the definition of vicarious experience, analyzing extralegal as well as legal consequences, examining multiple types of offending behavior, and drawing its data from a sample of work release facility inmates. The results fail to support legal deterrence as an explanation of offending for this sample but suggest the importance of extralegal consequences. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC