Public opinion towards the punishment of offenders: The importance of the offence committed

Authors

  • Eva Aizpurúa González Centro de Investigación en Criminología de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha Spain
  • Esther Fernández Molina Centro de Investigación en Criminología de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha Spain

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24310/Boletin-criminologico.2016.v22i2016.7549

Keywords:

public opinion, punitive attitudes, sentences, type of crime

Abstract

The study of punitive attitudes has become one of the main research lines in the field of Criminology today. The current study analyses punitive demands based on the type of crime. Its main contributions are the use of specific cases and a representative sample of the Spanish population (n=1,000). The results indicate a certain dissatisfaction with current sentences, with a divergence between the sanctions demanded by society
and those legally provided for. In spite of this, the data demonstrates that calls for harsh punishments are not universal, but rather vary considerably depending upon the crime in question.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biographies

Eva Aizpurúa González, Centro de Investigación en Criminología de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Becaria FPU en el Centro de Investigación en Criminología de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. Sus principales líneas de investigación son la opinión pública hacia el delito y las técnicas de investigación social.

Esther Fernández Molina, Centro de Investigación en Criminología de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Profesora del Centro de Investigación en Criminología de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. Sus líneas de investigación principales son: justicia de menores y actitudes hacia el castigo juvenil.

References

FERNÁNDEZ, Esther y TARANCÓN, Pilar (2010): “Populismo punitivo y delincuencia juvenil: Mito o realidad” en Revista Electrónica de Ciencia Penal y Criminología, 12/8. Disponible en http://criminet.ugr.es/recpc/12/recpc12-08.pdf [Fecha de consulta: 18/02/2015]

GARLAND, David (2001). The culture of control. Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society. Oxford University Press.

GELB, Karen (2008): More myths and misconceptions. Sentencing Advisory Council.

HOUGH, Mike; BRADFORD, Ben; JACKSON, Jonathan y ROBERTS, Julian V. (2013): Attitudes to sentencing and trust in justice: Exploring trends from the crime survey from England and Wales. Ministry of Justice.

HOUGH, Mike; ROBERTS, Julian V.; JACOBSON, Jessica; MOON, Nick y STEEL, Nicki (2009): Public attitudes to the principles of sentencing. Sentencing Advisory Panel.

HOUGH, Mike y ROBERTS, Julian V. (1998): Attitudes to punishment: Findings from the British Crime Survey. Home Office.

MASCINI, Peter y HOUTMAN, Dick (2006): “Rehabilitation and repression. Reassessing their ideological embeddedness” en British Journal of Criminology, 46/5.

MILLER, Riane N. y APPLEGATE, Brandon K. (2014): “Adult crime, adult time? Benchmarking public views on punishing serious juvenile felons” en Criminal Justice Review.

ROBERTS, Julian V. y HOUGH, Mike (2005): Understanding public attitudes to criminal justice. McGraw Hill.

ROBERTS, Julian V.; HOUGH, Mike; JACOBSON, Jessica y MOON, Nick (2009): Public attitudes to sentencing purposes and sentencing factors: An empirical analysis, en Criminal Law Review, 11.

SELLIN, Thorsten y WOLFANG, Marvin E. (1964): The measurement of delinquency. Wiley.

STYLIANOU, Stelios (2003): “Measuring crime seriousness perceptions: What have we learnt and what else do we want to know” en Journal of Criminal Justice, 31/1.

TAJALI, Hassan; DE SOTO, William y DOZIER, Angela (2013): “Determinants of punitive attitudes of college students toward criminal offenders” en Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 24/3.

TUFTS, Jennifer y ROBERTS, Julian V. (2002): “Sentencing juvenile offenders: Comparing public preferences and judicial practice” en Criminal Justice Policy Review, 13/1.

VARONA, Daniel (2008): “Ciudadanos y actitudes punitivas: Un estudio piloto de población universitaria española” en Revista Española de Investigación Criminológica, 6. Disponible en http://www.criminologia.net/pdf/reic/ano6-2008/a62008art1.pdf [Fecha de consulta: 18/02/2015]

VARONA, Daniel (2013): “Percepción y elección del castigo en España: Resultados a partir de la Encuesta Social Europea” en Cuadernos de Política Criminal, 111/3.

VARONA, Daniel (2015): “Opinión pública y castigo: La investigación sobre las actitudes punitivas en España”, en MIRÓ, Fernando; AGUSTINA, José R.; MEDINA, Juan J. y SUMMERS, Lucía: Crimen, oportunidad y vida diaria. Dykinson.

VIKI, Tendayi y BOHNER, Gerd (2009): “Achieving accurate assessment of attitudes toward the criminal justice system: Methodological issues”, en WOOD, Jane y GANNON, Theresa A.: Public opinion and criminal justice. Willan.

Published

2016-02-08

How to Cite

Aizpurúa González, E., & Fernández Molina, E. (2016). Public opinion towards the punishment of offenders: The importance of the offence committed. Boletín Criminológico, (22). https://doi.org/10.24310/Boletin-criminologico.2016.v22i2016.7549