Examining Experiences of Victimization, Support for Punitive Punishments, and Confidence in the Criminal Justice System

• In Event: Victimization and Perceptions of Crime and Justice

Abstract

In this study, we analyze the relationship between experiences with victimization, support for punitive punishment policies, and confidence in the criminal justice system. According to Tyler’s (2003) theory of procedural justice, individuals evaluate the fairness and transparency of the criminal justice system based on their personal and vicarious experiences with administrators of justice (e.g. law-enforcement, correctional officers, prosecutors, and judges). Individual and collective judgments about the criminal justice system range from beliefs that the criminal justice system is a legitimate authority figure that society should be obedient towards or an illegitimate authority that society should disregard and defy. Therefore, for this study we have three hypotheses: (1) increased experiences of victimization are positively correlated with increased support for punitive punishment policies; (2) increased experiences of victimization are negatively correlated with confidence in the criminal justice system; and (3) increased support for punitive punishment policies are negatively correlated with confidence in the criminal justice system.

Authors

• Sriram Chintakrindi, California State University, Stanislaus

• Abu Karimu Mboka, California State University, Stanislaus

• Phyllis Gerstenfeld, California State University, Stanislaus

• Chau-Pu Chiang, California State University, Stanislaus

• Robert Werling, California State University, Stanislaus

• Huan Gao, California State University, Stanislaus

• Amanda Matravers, California State University, Stanislaus

• Steve Wood, California State University, Stanislaus

• Dorothy McClellan, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

• Irma Kovčo Vukadin, University of Zagreb