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Punishing “Evil Offenders”: How Belief in Pure Evil Impacts Criminal Justice Policy Support Through Stigma and Preferences for Maintaining Social Order

Fri, Nov 18, 3:30 to 4:50pm, A706, Atrium Level

Abstract

People have long conflated offending with “evil,” and characterizations of “evil offenders” appear in popular entertainment, political rhetoric, and scholarship. Psychological research also indicates that individuals differ in their belief in pure evil (BPE). Integrating criminological and psychological literatures, we argue that BPE may be associated with punitive and rehabilitative criminal justice policy support via two theoretical mediators: 1) stigma toward individuals with criminal records; and 2) preferences for maintaining social and moral order. We examine these relationships using two public samples collected in 2015 (MTurk, N = 949) and 2021 (Qualtrics Panel, N = 1,162). As expected, BPE was positively associated with punitive policy support in both samples. Additionally, both stigmatizing attitudes and preferences for social and moral order partially mediated the effects of BPE on punitive policy support. In contrast, models predicting support for rehabilitative criminal justice policy in the Qualtrics sample revealed a suppression effect: BPE was positively associated with support for rehabilitative policy support, but only when stigmatizing attitudes were controlled. Overall, we interpret the results as pointing to the utility of BPE in understanding criminal justice policy preferences, particularly in the context of stigma and preferences for social and moral order.

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