NCJ Number
99876
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 49 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1985) Pages: 16-24
Date Published
1985
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Based on statewide Texas polls for 1977-82, this study examines the public's fear of crime, support for a punitive response to crime, and support for alternatives to incarceration.
Abstract
Surveys conducted in the fall of 1977 and the spring of 1978 mailed questionnaires to a sample of 1,000 residents over 15 years old who had valid Texas driver's licenses. Thereafter, the annual survey sample was increased to 2,000 and limited to drivers age 17 and over. The mean response rate for all surveys was 72.3 percent. The surveys indicate that citizens held punitive attitudes toward offenders, but few citizens were intensely fearful of crime (a supposed cause of punitive attitudes). Support for rehabilitation as a corrections goal was also strong. The current 'get-tough' criminal justice policy is thus not a pure reflection of public sentiment. Government policymakers, particularly elected officials, who give high priority to public preferences in their decisionmaking have not analyzed the complexity of public attitudes toward crime and criminal justice. They have focused only on the punitive thrust of public attitudes. The high costs of punitive criminal justice, however, may force policymakers to both take another look at nonpunitive public attitudes and also educate the public about more cost-effective criminal justice policy. Forty references are listed; four tables present survey data.