Attitudes regarding life sentences for juvenile offenders.

Abstract

Twice in recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has considered the constitutionality of life sentences without the possibility of parole (LWOP) for juvenile offenders. Given the public nature of this issue, there is scant information on beliefs about imposing LWOP on juveniles. Attitudes on related issues suggest two possibilities. On the one hand, because public opinion regarding juvenile offenders has become somewhat less punitive recently, LWOP may be viewed as excessively harsh punishment. On the other hand, portrayal of some juvenile offenders as superpredators suggests that LWOP may still have public support. We used survey methodology and the unique "ninth justice paradigm" to examine how an offender's age influences beliefs about the appropriateness of LWOP, and the relationship between those beliefs and punishment-related ideologies. Results showed that, except in the case of murder, the majority of respondents disfavored imposing LWOP on juveniles, though a subset approved broad use of LWOP even for young offenders. In fact, after removing from consideration those who oppose LWOP under any circumstances, youthfulness of the offender has little impact on the beliefs about the types of crimes in which LWOP should be imposed (Study 1) or the mean sentence lengths imposed on juvenile offenders (Study 2). Respondents' punishment goals influenced their attitudes, as did beliefs about the likelihood of rehabilitation and reform. Harsh judgments of juveniles who commit serious crimes may result from dispositional attributions of youthful offenders as irredeemable.

Social Attitudes Toward Life Sentence in Relation to Minor and Juvenile Offenders - Replication of Edie Green's and Andrew Evelo's Studies (2013)

“…In the replication of the study by Green & Evelo [1] I used a procedure identical with the studies of the American authors. My study assesses the social attitudes towards LWOP, made in relation to the age of the offenders and the nature of the offense, and depending on the purpose of punishment as perceived by the respondents.…”

“…It has been previously demonstrated [1] that people are willing to opt for a more severe punishment for an offense if the dominant purpose of the penalty is to deter others from committing the crime or to isolate the criminal in order to prevent him/her from committing additional crimes. Much more liberal judgments about the severity of penalties are pronounced by those who would emphasize the correctional (rehabilitation) function of the imprisonment penalty.…”

“…Like in the studies of Edie Green and Andrew Evelo [1], the aim of my research was to determine what the social attitudes regarding the applicability of life sentence without the possibility of parole (LWOP, Polish KDPWBMWPZ) towards the juveniles are. The aim of the research replicated in Polish conditions, and the impulse to carry it out, is to demonstrate the need to open a scientific dialog on social attitudes regarding punishment of young offenders.…”

“…The questionnaire of attitudes towards punishment towards minors and juveniles was built on the basis of the data contained in the original studies of Greene & Evelo [1] adapting the definitions of the offenses to those of the Polish Penal Code (Act of 6 June 1997.The Penal Code, Art. 1 Journal of Laws of 1997 No 88 pos.…”

“…The problem of social attitudes towards minor and juvenile delinquency has been thoroughly analyzed in the studies of Edie Green and Andrew Evelo [1]. They cover the attitudes of American society.…”