Predicting punitive attitudes to sentencing: Does the public's perceptions of crime and Indigenous Australians matter?
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865815620702 |
| Published date | 01 March 2017 |
| Date | 01 March 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Australian & New Zealand
Journal of Criminology
2017, Vol. 50(1) 56–76
!The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0004865815620702
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Article
Predicting punitive attitudes to
sentencing: Does the public’s
perceptions of crime and
Indigenous Australians matter?
Ruth P Brookman
Crime Prevention and Community Programs, Department of Justice,
New South Wales, Australia
Karl KK Wiener
School of Psychology, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga,
New South Wales, Australia
Abstract
In English-speaking western cultures the punitive attitudes towards law-breakers is well docu-
mented. The present study examines the utility of predictors of punitive attitudes with online
survey data obtained from a convenience sample of 566 Australian residents. After controlling
for demographicvariables, the study examinesthe utility of two theoretical models; the Crime–
distrust model and theRacial–animus model, in predictingpunitive attitudes. All three factors of
the Crime–distrust model significantly predict punitive attitudes.The study extends the current
literature through identifying the significance of negative perceptions of Indigenous Australians
in predicting punitive attitudes to sentencing. Results suggest that community perception of
Indigenous Australians is a significant predictor of punitive attitudes in addition to factors of the
Crime–distrust model. Future research using a more representative sample of the Australian
population is recommended to increase the confidence with which findings are interpreted.
Keywords
Aboriginals, crime–distrust, crime salience, fear of crime, Indigenous Australians, predicting,
prejudice, punitive attitudes, racial–animus
The desire to punish rule breakers is arguably a universal characteristic of human
societies (Boehm, 1986; Tyler & Boeckmann, 1997). Garland (2013) attributes the
desire in Western Societies for harsher punishments in the decades following World
War II, to social emancipation, consumer capitalism and the emergence of ‘high-crime
Corresponding author:
Karl KK Wiener, School of Psychology, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga NSW 2678,
Australia.
Email: kwiener@csu.edu.au
societies’ (p.480). From the mid-1970s onwards a reactionary ‘culture of control’
developed in order to manage new social risks (Garland, 2001). In western cultures
such as the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK) and
Australia, the public desire for harsher penalties for lawbreakers in contemporary
society is revealed in a variety of different survey studies. For example, approximately
two-thirds of the surveyed public across these countries expressed the desire for
harsher sentences for offenders (Mackenzie et al., 2012; Spiranovic, Roberts, &
Indermaur, 2011). In an Australian context, responses to the 2007 Australian
Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA) suggest that 71% of the Australians surveyed
believe that lawbreakers should be given harsher sentences (Roberts & Indermaur,
2009).
Societies’ ‘war on crime’ via demands for harsher prison sentences can be costly
resulting in an unsustainable explosion in the prison population experienced in most
Western countries such as the USA and the UK (Cunneen et al., 2013; Johnson,
2008; Jones & Newburn, 2005). In Australia and New Zealand prison populations
have experienced a similar increase in numbers (Baldry et al., 2011; Cunneen et al.,
2013). In Australia alone, the number of prisoners in custody had risen to an all
time high of 0.2% of the adult population, with Indigenous people accounting for
27% of those in custody (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). This increase in
custodial sentences appears to be a global trend in western industrialised countries
with the implementation of punitive sentencing policies, such as youth curfews, ‘zero
tolerance’ and ‘three-strikes’ sentencing, as a response to the public’s demand for
more severe sentencing policies and practices (Jones & Newburn, 2005). Social
psychologists, sociologists and students of the law have endeavoured to understand
what factors influence the prevailing punitive attitude in western societies (Durkheim,
1984).
Punitive attitudes to sentencing
A common approach to defining the psychological construct of ‘punitiveness’ has
involved equating punitive attitudes with support for harsher sentencing of offenders
and harsher crime policies (Hogan, Chiricos, & Gertz, 2005; Maruna & King, 2009).
‘Harsher’ sentencing may involve support for greater intensity and/or length of senten-
cing outcomes for people who break the law (Maruna & King, 2009). A consistent
approach to understanding what predicts punitive attitudes has been to examine
global trends regarding factors associated with punitive attitudes (Unnever & Cullen,
2010a). The majority of research exploring predictors of punitive attitudes and senten-
cing policy development comes from the USA, the UK and Canada (Gelb, 2008). In the
USA, for example, several predictive factors have been linked with punitive attitudes
including: demographic variables (Spiranovic et al., 2011), crime salience (Costelloe,
Chiricos, & Gertz, 2009), concern over the state of society (Tyler & Boeckmann,
1997), and racial and ethnic intolerance (Unnever & Cullen, 2010b). In the UK, research
has also examined individual’s attribution styles in relationship to punitive attitudes
(Maruna & King, 2009). In Canada, research has explored gender differences and the
impact of different measurement tools on the levels of reported punitive attitudes
(Sprott, 1999).
Brookman and Wiener 57
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