Punishment justifications in rape cases: a community study

Abstract

Norway is one of the countries with the most progressive criminal justice systems in the Western world. Traditionally, the Norwegian criminal justice system has been mainly based on treatment and deterrence perspectives. While it is believed that criminal justice practices should be in accordance with public attitudes, few studies in Scandinavia have investigated public attitudes towards criminal justice sanctions in a methodologically sound manner. The current study is the first to investigate the attitudes of the Norwegian public towards punishment of rapists. In a Norwegian community sample (N = 475) from 2005, participants found the typical sentencing severity of a convicted rapist too lenient. The participants did report that as a global sentencing orientation, they preferred incapacitation. When presented with a specific rape case, their sentencing judgments were oriented towards both incapacitation and retribution, but their global orientation were not related to their specific judgments. Aggravating circumstances (e.g. violence was used) were found to influence the participants' judgments more than when no aggravating circumstances were present (e.g. no violence was used). Few gender or educational differences were found, which indicates that these attitudes toward punishment of rapists are quite consistent across demographical groups.

The Relationship Between Policy, Media, and Perceptions of Sexual Offenders Between 2007 and 2017: A Review of the Literature

“…Attitudes toward sexual offenders are generally quite negative (Klein, 2015; Willis et al, 2013); however, there are some demographic differences that consistently affect how perceivers feel about offenders. The largest difference in the literature is by gender, with more negative beliefs about offenders held by females than males (Bergstrøm et al, 2017; Willis et al, 2013). Specifically, females show significantly higher levels of fear toward offenders than do males (Kernsmith et al, 2009; Koon-Magnin, 2015).…”

“…Parental status can also have an effect on offender attitudes, with parents being more likely to believe offenders cannot change and that they are dangerous (Klein, 2015). Many studies show that less formal education is also positively correlated with negative attitudes about offenders (King & Roberts, 2015; Shackley et al, 2014; Socia & Harris, 2016; Willis et al, 2013), although one study found that individuals with higher levels of education responded more negatively to offenders (Bergstrøm et al, 2017). Another study looked at how the Big Five personality characteristics (McCrae & Costa, 1999) predicted attitudes toward offenders and found that those high in openness to experience or agreeableness were significantly more likely to believe in rehabilitation, with those high in extroversion having more negative attitudes about offenders (Olver & Barlow, 2010).…”

“…As a whole, this area of literature surrounding perceptions of those who sexually offend can do more to deepen based on perceiver diversity, particularly in terms of race. While women, parents, and people with less education have more negative perceptions of offenders, research on these differences is limited and leaves out many groups (Bergstrøm et al, 2017; King & Roberts, 2015; Klein, 2015; Willis et al, 2013). More work should be done to understand how different racial groups perceive offenders and offending, particularly in their own communities.…”

“…One study reviewed examined motivations underlying punishment for sexual offenders (Bergstrøm et al, 2017). Motivations include deterrence (i.e., stopping recidivism), incapacitation (i.e., incarceration to prevent recidivism), and retribution (i.e., punishment in kind, "an eye for an eye").…”