Do Criminology Classes Make a Difference? Changes in Perceptions of Punishment Over Time

Kuehn, Sarah; Ridener, Rebecca; Scott, Paul

doi:10.1080/10511253.2017.1330963

Cited by 9 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Drawing on their previous study, Kuehn and colleagues (2018) conducted a longitudinal study examining whether college education had an effect on levels of punitiveness, again comparing criminology students with non-criminology students. Consistent with previous research, they found that students' major played a significant role in predicting levels of punitiveness with criminology students again being less punitive than other majors (Kuehn et al, 2018). Arguably, it could be pointed out that criminology and criminal justice majors most likely have taken more criminology courses than students with other majors and therefore have a deeper understanding of different factors that influence crime that would, in turn, shape different attitudes towards punishment.…”

Section: Attitudes Towards Punishmentsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Further evidence of the education-attitudinal link showed that criminology majors held less punitive attitudes towards crime than non-criminology majors (Falco & Martin, 2012;Ridener & Kuehn, 2017;Kuehn et al, 2018). Falco and Martin (2012) compared levels of punitiveness among undergraduate college students majoring in criminology to those majoring in other academic disciplines.…”

Section: Attitudes Towards Punishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceptions of Crime Seriousness and Punitive Attitudes in Post-Secondary Students

Weetering¹,

Wilhelmina²

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Public perceptions of crime seriousness and attitudes towards the punishment of crime stem from the social norms and values that shape society and are informed by ways of knowing about crime. Located within a social constructionist paradigm, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of post-secondary education, crime type and crime representation on perceptions of crime severity and punitive attitudes for different crime types. A sample of 971 students from the University of Winnipeg completed an online questionnaire measuring perceptions of crime severity for one-line crime descriptions as well as crime scenarios based on actual court data. Results show that both wrongfulness and harmfulness are strong predictors of perceived seriousness. As predicted, violent crimes ranked highest on measures of seriousness, wrongfulness, and harmfulness, and received the most severe sentencing recommendations. While the level of education completed had no significant difference on perceptions of crime severity, differences between fields of study showed significance. Comparisons between responses to the one-line crime descriptions and the crime scenarios revealed significantly stronger severity ratings for the scenarios than for the one-line descriptions although the ranking of crimes remained similar. Findings suggest that universal notions of wrongfulness and harmfulness exist that influence perceptions of seriousness and are resistant to change. Perceptions towards crimes are informed by a socially constructed reality of crime that shapes our knowledge of crime. Understanding the underlying factors that influence perceptions and attitudes towards crime may shed new light on the social approaches to dealing with crime and provides new insights into crime control practices and government crime policy. Finally, results also emphasize the importance of reflecting on the matter of crime representation in academic research.

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Section: Attitudes Towards Punishmentsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Attitudes Towards Punishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Crime Seriousness and Punitive Attitudes in Post-Secondary Students

Weetering¹,

Wilhelmina²

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“…Respondents with a master's or doctoral degree recorded the highest marks in the arguments of revenge for the perpetrator; economic consequences; expressing social condemnation for a crime; Police. The question of the relationship between education and the attitude towards the death penalty is unavoidable in a wide range of scientific studies (Kuehn, Ridener, & Scott, 2018;Kuzina, Cherkasova, Artyukhin, Saraev, & Comartov, 2020). The findings are inconsistent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An unavoidable issue in a wide range of scientific studies is the relationship between education and attitudes towards the death penalty (Kuehn, Ridener, & Scott, 2018). Contrary to previous insights into uninformed public prejudice as a source of public support for the death penalty (Chan, Tan, Lee, & Mathi, 2018;Cochran & Chamlin, 2005).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Predictive Model of Citizens’ Attitudes About the Risks of Introducing the Death Penalty in the Legal System: A Case Study of Serbia

Cvetković¹,

Bugarski²,

Ristivojević³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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This paper presents the results of quantitative research regarding the predictive model of citizens' attitudes about the risks of introducing the death penalty in the Republic of Serbia legal system. The research was conducted with the use of a questionnaire that was requested and then collected online from 427 people in June 2021. A multivariate regression analysis was used, identifying the extent to total scores of the main dependent variables (introducing the death penalty; trust in the legal system; advantages of introduction; disadvantages of introduction scores) were associated with five demographic and socio-economic variables: gender, marital, education, income, and age. We tested the central hypothesis of which gender is predicting variables citizens' attitudes about the risks of introducing the death penalty in the legal system of Serbia. The findings revealed that gender and educational level were the most effective predictors of the research variables under question. The majority of respondents support the introduction of the death penalty and the most important predictor of disadvantages of introducing the death penalty in the legal system is age. Based on the findings that there are major differences in the citizens' attitudes about the risks of introducing the death penalty in the legal system, policies, strategies, and regulations must take into account these very important findings.

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“…Finally, and just as importantly, some research also seems to indicate that no distinct difference in punishment attitudes exists between US criminal justice majors and non-majors. For example, Kuehn et al’.s (2018) longitudinal design produced results that indicated that taking criminal justice courses made no difference in overall punitive attitudes over time.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of religiosity and studying law on college students’ punitive attitudes in China

Chu

Cretacci

Yan-dong

2020

Criminology & Criminal Justice

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A number of studies in the United States examine the impact of religiosity on attitudes towards various types of criminal sanctioning. Research seems to indicate that more conservative denominations and faiths have a more punitive preference for criminal sanctions. Previous studies have also examined these attitudes between criminal justice and non-criminal justice students. While this area of inquiry has drawn attention in the United States, only scant attention has been paid to this phenomenon in other countries. To the best of our knowledge, no study has addressed this issue in China and our research seeks to serve as a foundation for examining this topic in that country. Using data collected from students attending universities in China, we examine the relationship between respondents’ religiosity and their punitive attitudes. We also compare the punitive attitudes between law and non-law majors. Findings indicate that students with higher levels of religious behaviour were less likely to support the death penalty. In addition, law majors were found to be less likely to endorse severe sentences. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

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Do Criminology Classes Make a Difference? Changes in Perceptions of Punishment Over Time

Cited by 9 publications

References 43 publications

Perceptions of Crime Seriousness and Punitive Attitudes in Post-Secondary Students

Perceptions of Crime Seriousness and Punitive Attitudes in Post-Secondary Students

The Predictive Model of Citizens’ Attitudes About the Risks of Introducing the Death Penalty in the Legal System: A Case Study of Serbia

Influence of religiosity and studying law on college students’ punitive attitudes in China

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