NCJ Number
78208
Journal
Deviant Behavior Volume: 2 Issue: 3 Dated: (April-June 1981) Pages: 207-230
Date Published
1981
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This study of respondents' perceptions of the causes and prescribed punishment for crimes described in 25 vignettes shows that respondents' sociodemographic characteristics, chiefly race, affect the perceived cause, whether personal or environmental.
Abstract
The data came from a self-administered questionnaire given to 662 students in 20 social science and humanities classes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at North Carolina Central University. The questionnaire included demographic items to characterize respondents (race, sex, family income, year in school, size of hometown), 25 criminal offense vignettes depicting a range of criminal acts and actors, and a list of 5 causes of crime. For each vignette, respondents selected 1 of the causal influences and assigned punishment for each of the offenders on a 10-item punishment scale. The findings showed that selected perceiver characteristics (sex, race, and family income) affected environmental conditions as causal influences. Black and white respondents differed significantly in their choice of attribution for adult property crimes and for juvenile crimes. Furthermore, if the cause was personal disposition, respondents tended to assign more punishment than when an environmental attribution was made. However, blacks were more likely to choose a personal disposition attribution for adult property offenders and then assign more punishment. One explanation may be that racial differences might be a proxy for political attitudes. Studies should be conducted of the public's perceptions of the links among circumstances, actors, and crime types to provide insight into logical systems underlying criminal law and practice and to improve them. Statistical data and about 25 references are included. A list of vignettes, an example of the rating scale, and a list of crime causes are appended.