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This study examines the influence of crime-related media consumption on individuals’ perceptions of the most important purpose of criminal sentencing, using a statewide survey of 4,245 California residents. Consumption of various forms of crime-related media was regressed on four goals of criminal sentencing (punishment, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation) using multinomial logistic regression. The results suggest that consumption of television news and crime-based reality programs increased the odds of selecting punishment as the most important goal of criminal sentencing as opposed to rehabilitation. The more hours of television watched, irrespective of genre, the more likely respondents were to support punishment, deterrence, or incapacitation rather than rehabilitation. These results hold even after controlling for various sociodemographic characteristics and experiences with crime such as fear, past victimization, and prior arrests.

Few studies have examined how the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity may manifest differences in the effects of crime-related media on fear of crime. This study examines the relationships between various forms of crime-related media on fear of crime with a sample disaggregated by gender to ascertain if crime-related media consumption works differently for women and men. Race/ethnic differences within gender were also examined. Only slight differences between men and women were found and differences across race/ethnicity within gender groups were minor. Therefore, despite the prevalence of White female victims in crime-related media, media messages of risk, and fear seem to influence viewers similarly regardless of gender or race, providing additional support for cultivation theory and mainstreaming effects.

Research exploring attitudes toward the death penalty is common in the field of criminal justice. Additionally, a substantial body of literature has examined public perceptions of sex offenders and punishment in the U.S. Unfortunately, few studies have sought to examine perceptions of the death penalty in relation to sexual offending. This study contributes to the literature by examining perceptions of the college students at a mid-sized university in the Southeastern United States as they relate to support for the death penalty in cases of sexual assault across victim age categories. Findings suggest that respondent perceptions are shaped by biological sex, political affiliation, college major, fear of crime, and parents’ level of education, and these relationships are uniform across victim age categories. Further, support for the death penalty appears inversely related with victim age.

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