Perceptions of Deservingness of Incarceration: The Role of Violent vs Nonviolent Crime Distinction

• In Event: 20401 - Incarceration and the Long Shadow of Punishment

Abstract

Scholars examining the state of criminal-legal reform have indicated that modern penal policies are primarily shaped by shifting cultural sensibilities which sharply differentiate between violent and nonviolent offenses, with far more favorable attitudes toward the latter (Seeds 2017). However, scholars have yet to examine the varying ways in which individuals define “violent crime” and how they draw on those definitions to determine whether someone deserves incarceration. This paper fills this gap by asking: 1) How do individuals distinguish between violent and nonviolent offenses? and 2) How do they use those categories to determine whether someone deserves incarceration? Using an innovative survey experiment, I find several key trends. First, individuals have widely varying ways of distinguishing between violent and nonviolent crime, and these distinctions are often misaligned with legal definitions. Second, the distinction between violent and nonviolent is not necessarily the most salient characteristic when determining whether someone deserves incarceration. Instead, individuals inconsistently draw on their own definitions of violence and instead often rely on other dimensions of an offense, such as stigma, to determine deservingness of incarceration.

Author

• Anneliese Ward, The Ohio State University