Does Crime Cause Punitiveness?

• In Event: Views on Punitive, Rehabilitative, and Reentry Policies

Abstract

It has been argued that America's highly punitive policies towards criminals are the result of widespread punitive attitudes in the population, which in turn have been produced by the nation's high level of crime. We use multi-level data to test whether more punitive attitudes towards criminals are encouraged by higher local crime rates, prior victimization experience, perception of a high risk of future victimization, fear of crime, or other dimensions of exposure to crime.

Authors

• Gary Kleck, Florida State University

• Dylan Jackson, Florida State University