Belief in Redeemability and Punitive Public Opinion: “Once a Criminal, Always a Criminal” Revisited

In 2009, Maruna and King presented results from a British survey showing that the public’s belief in the redeemability of people who committed offenses curbed their level of punitiveness. Based on a 2017 national survey in the United States (n = 1,000), the current study confirms that redeemability...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Burton, Alexander L. (Author)
Contributors: Cullen, Francis T. 1951- ; Burton, Velmer S. ; Butler, Leah C. ; Graham, Amanda ; Thielo, Angela J.
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
In: Criminal justice and behavior
Year: 2020, Volume: 47, Issue: 6, Pages: 712-732
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Attitudes
Corrections
Public Opinion
Punitiveness
Redeemability
Rehabilitation
Description
Summary:In 2009, Maruna and King presented results from a British survey showing that the public’s belief in the redeemability of people who committed offenses curbed their level of punitiveness. Based on a 2017 national survey in the United States (n = 1,000), the current study confirms that redeemability is negatively related to punitive attitudes. In addition, the analyses reveal that this belief predicts support for rehabilitation and specific inclusionary policies (i.e., ban-the-box in employment, expungement of criminal records, and voting rights for people with a felony conviction). Findings regarding measures for punishment and rehabilitation were confirmed by a 2019 Mechanical Turk (MTurk) survey. These results suggest that beliefs about capacity for change among people who committed offenses are key to understanding crime-control public policy.
ISSN:1552-3594
DOI:10.1177/0093854820913585