Public Opinion on Criminal Justice Responses to Gangs: Experimental Evidence from a National Survey

• In Event: Experimental Methods in Criminology (Sponsored by the Division of Experimental Criminology)

Abstract

For the last five decades, gangs have been a criminal justice priority, commanding the attention of police, courts, and corrections. Legislative bodies and local, state, and federal agencies have adapted or engineered policies and practices to combat the influence of gangs. While these efforts have been subject to inquiry by researchers and media, they have been largely immune from the opinion of the general public. While public opinion is not the sole determinant of decision-making about responding to gangs, it ought to factor into the debate about criminal justice policy and practice. We surveyed 1,000 adults in the United States to understand public support for five common yet controversial responses to gangs spearheaded by the criminal justice system and whether opinions could be swayed by behavioral, economic, legal, psychological, and sociological research. Statements defining these responses were experimentally altered to determine how public opinion shifted when presented with different dimensions of information.

Authors

• David Pyrooz, University of Colorado Boulder

• James Densley, Metropolitan State University

• Jose Sanchez, Texas Christian University