Examining Punitiveness: Assessing Views Toward the Punishment of Offenders Among Criminology and Non-Criminology Students

Abstract

This study investigates the predictors of punitiveness among 519 undergraduate college students at one public university in the Northeast. Specifically, it compared levels of punitiveness among students majoring in criminology with students majoring in other academic disciplines. Due to the fact that criminology students may work as professionals within the criminal justice system after graduation, it is particularly important to assess their views toward the punishment of lawbreakers. The results from the current study indicate that criminology students held less punitive views toward offenders than did students majoring in other academic disciplines. In addition, the findings indicate that year in school is an important predictor of punitiveness, with seniors holding the least punitive views and freshman holding the most punitive views. Furthermore, political ideology and three causal attribution theories (classical, structural positivism, labeling) were found to significantly impact punitiveness.

Juvenile Justice Education For At-risk High School Youth: A Pilot Program

“…These results were similar to those of Falco and Martin's (2012), who found that as students progressed from freshmen to seniors, their views became less punitive. Mandracchia et al (2013) also tested the relationship of attitudes to race and found that the study suggested, in contrast to earlier findings, that their minority participants (principally Hispanics and African Americans) had less favorable attitudes about prison reform and more supportive attitudes of capital punishment than Caucasian participants.…”

“…Findings of previous studies on youths' perceptions of fairness of the judicial system were related to the youths' ethnicity and personal experiences with the system (Hurst & Nation, 2009;Woolard et al, 2008). Findings of college students on knowledge of the system and attitudes toward punishment were contradictory (Falco & Martin, 2012;Farnworth et al, 1998;Mandracchia et al, 2013).…”

“…Students majoring in criminal justice students and students majoring in other disciplines at a Northeastern college were studied by Falco and Martin (2012). Of the 519 students who returned completed surveys (based on Sims, 2003), approximately equal amounts were majors and nonmajors and of both genders (ethnicity was not reported).…”

Support for Balanced Juvenile Justice: Assessing Views About Youth, Rehabilitation, and Punishment

“…In the criminological literature, college samples are commonly used to test theory (see, e.g., Mancini et al 2012;Nagin and Paternoster 1994;Pogarsky and Piquero 2003;Stets and Carter 2012;Wu et al 2011) and to evaluate sources of public views about juvenile justice (see, e.g., Edens et al 2003;Falco and Martin 2012;O'Connor et al 2011). A central reason is that students constitute a diverse population and their opinions, at least in the context of criminal justice, have been found to accord with those of the general public (Wiecko 2010; see also Piquero and Bouffard 2007).…”

“…Use of a criminology and criminal justice pool of subjects for a study of sanctioning views is consistent with prior work and, in reference to the student population, does not appear likely to unduly bias the results with respect to opinions about sanctioning youth or the factors that predict these views. Prior scholarship, for example, is mixed, with some studies finding that criminology and criminal justice students may be somewhat more punitive (see, e.g., Hensley et al 2002;O'Connor et al 2011) and others finding that they are somewhat less punitive (see, e.g., Falco and Martin 2012). In addition, although college students tend to be younger and more highly educated than the general public, studies have produced inconsistent results concerning the relationship between age and punitiveness as well as education and punitiveness, with some finding no association, some finding a positive association, and still others finding a negative association (see, e.g., Langworthy and Whitehead 1986;Mears 2001;Moon et al 2000b;Pickett et al 2013).…”