NCJ Number
47569
Date Published
1978
Length
8 pages
Annotation
RESIDENTS OF NEW YORK, N.Y., BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA, ORANI, ITALY, DJAKARTA, INDONESIA, AND TEHERAN, IRAN, WERE SURVEYED REGARDING OPINIONS ON THE DECRIMINALIZATION AND CRIMINALIZATION OF VARIOUS OFFENSES.
Abstract
THE FOLLOWING DEVIANT ACTS WERE CHOSEN AND INCORPORATED IN A QUESTIONNAIRE: INDIVIDUAL POLLUTION, ROBBERY, INCEST WITHHOLDING AID FROM AN ENDANGERED PERSON, ABORTION, FACTORY POLLUTION, CONSENSUAL HOMOSEXUALITY, NONVIOLENT PROTEST, MISAPPROPRIATION OF GOVERNMENT FUNDS, AND DRUG USE. THE QUESTIONNAIRES (NOT PROVIDED) POSED TWO QUESTIONS REGARDING EACH ACT: (1) DO YOU THINK THIS ACT SHOULD BE PROHIBITED BY LAW?; AND (2) IS THIS ACT PROHIBITED BY THE LAW? ROBBERY AND MISAPPROPRIATION WERE UNANIMOUSLY CONSIDERED TO BE CRIMES BY THE INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS OF EACH COUNTRY. INCEST WAS SEEN AS CRIMINAL IN ALL BUT THE U.S. WHERE A QUARTER OF THOSE RESPONDING THOUGHT IT SHOULD NOT BE PROHIBITED. HOMOSEXUALITY, ABORTION, AND DRUG USE WERE JUDGED TO BE CRIMINAL IN ALL THE COUNTRIES, ALTHOUGH SLIGHTLY LESS SO IN THE U.S. AND YUGOSLAVIA. POLLUTION WAS CHARACTERIZED AS CRIMINAL IN ALL COUNTRIES, WITH A SLIGHTLY HIGHER RESPONSE IN IRAN. NONDEVIANT ACTS (NOT HELPING AND NONVIOLENT PROTEST) WERE MORE HIGHLY CRIMINALIZED BY THE RESPONDENTS FROM DEVELOPING NATIONS (I.E., ITALY). IN GENERAL, THE RESULTS SUPPORT CLASSIC SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES CLAIMING THAT MODERN INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES DISPLAY A WEAKENING OF TRADITIONAL NORMS OF MORALITY. THE DATA ALSO SUPPORT THE CONCEPT OF A GRADUAL UNIVERSALIZATION OF CULTURE AND THE IDEA THAT THERE IS EXTENSIVE DISAGREEMENT CONCERNING THE CRIMINAL NATURE OF TYPICALLY DEVIANT BEHAVIOR. TABULAR DATA AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (BAC)