Female Offender and Public Opinion - Perceived Seriousness of Crimes and Recommended Dispositions

• NCJ Number: 72473
• Author(s): D M Phillips; L D Nelson; G B Walters
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 27 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH08339
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Revised version of paper presented at the American Society of Criminology meetings, Tucson, Arizona, November, 1976

Annotation

This National Institute of Mental Health-sponsored study examines the extent to which the public of Washington State differentiate, on the basis of offenders' sex, the perceived seriousness of specific crimes, dispositions, and social acceptance of the convicted offender.

Abstract

The paper provides preliminary information on the supposed congruency of public opinion with official processing of female offenders. A total of 457 randomly chosen households completed questionnaires containing 4 vignettes describing hypothetical cases of illegal behavior (petit larceny/shoplifting, embezzzlement, selling marijuana, and second-degree murder). The only information given to describe the offender, besides gender, was that the hypothetical individual was 25 years-old, caucasian, employed, convicted of that particular offense, and a first offender. Though the respondents treated female crimes as more serious than male crimes and recommended incarceration for females at least as often as (if not more so) for males, they still indicated close social acceptance of female offenders--with the exception of second-degree murderers--significantly more often than of male offenders. Perhaps judges evaluate this perceived lack of a potential threat to the community in processing females. Data presented in this paper may be useful in providing the groundwork for further research in the area of public perceptions and judicial processing. About 28 references and tabular data are provided.