NCJ Number
41459
Date Published
1977
Length
125 pages
Annotation
THIS STUDY TESTS 'SOCIAL REACTION' HYPOTHESES DERIVED FROM THE LABELING LITERATURE BY EXAMINING THE EXTENT OF SUPPORT SHOWN FOR POLICIES DEALING WITH PUBLIC ORDER CRIMES AND CRIMINALS IN A NON-METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY.
Abstract
IT FOCUSES ON THE SELECTION PROCESS BY WHICH VARIOUS ACTS ARE LABELED CRIMINAL AND VARIOUS INDIVIDUALS SINGLED OUT AS CRIMINALS TO BE PUNISHED, AND ON THE NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXTANT PUBLIC ORDER CRIMINAL LAWS AND POLICIES AND PUBLIC TOLERATION FOR MODIFICATION OR DECRIMINALIZATION OF SUCH LAWS. THE FORMS OF DEVIANCE INVESTIGATED WERE ABORTION, PROSTITUTION, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND DRUG LAW OFFENSES. STUDY DATA WAS OBTAINED FROM A QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY OF A RANDOMLY CHOSEN SAMPLE OF 400 LEWISTON, IDAHO RESIDENTS. TWO HUNDRED FIFTY-EIGHT QUESTIONNAIRES WERE RETURNED. EVIDENCE WAS PROVIDED INDICATING THAT POTENTIAL ANSWERS TO THE QUESTION OF LEGAL DECRIMINALIZATION RESIDE IN THE NATURE OF SOCIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIAL RESPONSE TO DEVIANCE. IT APPEARS FROM THE RESULTS THAT ONE MAJOR DETERMINANT OF THE PREDISPOSITION TO DECRIMINALIZE STATUTES IS KNOWLEDGE, OR INFORMATION, ABOUT DEVIANTS. CONVERSELY, THE PUBLIC DOES SEEM TO HOLD STEREOTYPICAL IMAGES OF DEVIANTS AND THESE IMAGES, OR BELIEFS, ARE FURTHER REMOVED FROM DISPOSITIONS TO ACTION. THE LIKELIHOOD THAT DECRIMINALIZATION WILL OCCUR WAS BASICALLY RELATED TO SOCIAL CLASS VARIABLES, OR SOCIAL BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERSONS WHO ACT AS THE DEFINERS OF DEVIANCE. PUBLIC ORDER CRIMES WERE LIKELY TO BE REGARDED MORE TOLERANTLY BY HIGHER STATUS MEMBERS, WITH GREATER AMOUNTS OF TRAINING AND EDUCATION, AND BY YOUNGER RATHER THAN OLDER PERSONS. THERE WAS ALSO A POSITIVE SOCIAL RESPONSE BY URBAN WHEN COMPARED TO RURAL RESPONDENTS AND BY MEN MORE THAN WOMEN. THE LIKELIHOOD OF DECRIMINALIZATION OCCURRING APPEARS TO INCREASE AS COMMUNITY SIZE AND HETEROGENEITY OF THE POPULATION INCREASES. A 14-PAGE LIST OF REFERENCES, THE QUESTIONNAIRE SCHEDULE, AND A DISCUSSION OF DATA COLLECTION METHODS AND SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS ARE APPENDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)...ELW