RT Article T1 Invalid test of the proximity hypothesis in the Scandinavian panel study of penal attitudes JF European journal of criminology VO 18 IS 4 SP 547 OP 565 A1 Olaussen, Leif Petter LA English YR 2021 UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1764062906 AB Based on data for three participating countries in the Scandinavian study of public sense of justice, Balvig et al. (2015) conclude that data support the proximity hypothesis. They admit, however, that additional information about sanctions given to respondents might have influenced the results, and suggest a new study without such information. The Norwegian part of the Scandinavian study complies with their wish. Analysis of these data and the films we used in the study do not support the proximity hypothesis because mock-trial films crucial for testing of the hypothesis are biased in favour of it. Balvig et al. (2015) were not aware of this methodological problem built into the Scandinavian study. K1 Bias K1 Scandinavian K1 proximity hypothesis K1 Public sense of justice K1 Punitiveness DO 10.1177/1477370819854183