Prevention, Crime Control or Cash?: Public Preferences Towards Criminal Justice Spending Priorities

• NCJ Number: 215816
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 23 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2006 Pages: 317-335
• Author(s): Mark A. Cohen; Roland T. Rust; Sara Steen
• Date Published: September 2006
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study evaluated a new survey methodology to assess the public’s priorities in terms of criminal justice spending.

Abstract

Results indicated significant support for increased spending on delinquency prevention, drug treatment for nonviolent offenders, and police. Respondents further reported that they would not request a tax rebate if the money was to be spent on delinquency prevention, drug treatment, or police. Respondents did not support spending more for prisons. The authors estimated the public would received $3.07 in perceived value for every $1.00 spent on delinquency prevention; $1.86 for every dollar spent on drug treatment; and $1.76 for every dollar spent on police. The public would derive only 71 cents in value for every dollar spent on prisons. Other results indicated that respondents’ income had little effect on criminal justice spending priorities while some degree of variation was found by age and by region of the country. Those aged 18 to 34 years were more likely to allocate a larger portion to tax rebates. Southerners and Midwesterners were both more likely to allocate more money toward prisons and less money toward tax rebates. The findings suggest active public support for prevention programming over prison construction. The survey was designed to force respondents to decide how to allocate a fixed budget for various criminal justice categories: police, prisons, prevention programming, or giving the money back in the form of tax rebates. The goal was to ask respondents to consider the relative trade-offs of various criminal justice and prevention programming. The results allow researchers to rank-order public preferences for criminal justice spending. The survey was administered via telephone interview to a random digit dial sample of 1,300 adults across the United States during the period May through August 2000. Future research should explore the development of more detailed surveys that provide respondents with actual crime scenarios. Tables, footnotes, references