Perceptions of Punishment - The Effects of Extralegal Factors (From Corrections at the Crossroads - Designing Policy, P 49-63, 1981, Sherwood E Zimmerman and Harold D Miller, eds. - See NCJ-85837)

• NCJ Number: 85839
• Author(s): B K Singh; L D Adams
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

While extralegal factors were found to be of no significance in explaining the perceived certainty of punishment for marihuana use, they were found to be significant for perceptions of severity of punishment.

Abstract

The study design was based on descriptive and hierarchical analytical perspectives. First, the nature of associations of extralegal factors to perceptions of certainty and severity of punishment were explored. Then the effects of extralegal and deviance contiguity factors within the context of objective severity of punishment were hierarchically determined. The study used data collected for the National Commission of Marihuana in 1971. The sample consisted of 2,611 adult respondents, with 2,405 being part of a multistage area probability sample of the continental United States. The selection of extralegal factors for assessing the perception of certainty and severity of punishment was guided primarily by the literature on tolerance, which suggests that tolerance of nonconformity would vary by age, sex, race, attendance at religious services, commitment to religious beliefs, commitment to freedom of expression, and degree of metropolitan influence. The factors of age, education, and attendance in religious services were found to provide important contributions to the variance explanation of perception of severity of punishment. Additional significant contributions were made by the freedom of expression, and degree of metropolitan influence. The factors of age, education, and attendance in religious services were found to provide important contributions to the variance explanation of perception of severity of punishment. Additional significant contributions were made by the freedom of expression index and certainty of punishment. Contiguity to the deviant act itself was also a strong variable in shaping the perceptions of severity of punishment. The objective severity of punishment, however, showed no relationship with either the perceived certainty or severity of punishment. Tabular data and 18 notes are provided.