1. Public Opinion, Crime and Criminal Justice Sofia May 26, 2009
European Union
Operational Programme
Administrative Capacity
Public Opinion, Crime and Criminal Justice Sofia May 26, 2009
Julian Roberts
Faculty of Law,
University of Oxford

2. What I want to do
Summarise findings from 30 years of research on attitiudes towards, and knowledge of criminal justice;
Highlight methodological problems;
Describe 3 specific simple research studies which show the “true public opinion” in the area of legal punishment;
Draw some conclusions

3. Overview: Why study public opinion?
Poor knowledge leads to negative attitudes, unrealistic expectations and low confidence
Low confidence associated with disengagement from system, public less willing to serve as jurors, witnesses, report crimes
Negative attitudes puts pressure on judges to impose tougher sentences
Public criticism encourages “get tough” policies that have little effect

4. Public Misperceptions that undermine confidence in CJS
crime trends
recidivism rates
% of crime involving violence
Severity of sentencing practices
Ability of sentencing to control crime
Leniency of parole system (over-estimates)
Prison life

5. Public confidence/ performance ratings of CJ professions
Same hierarchy in all countries in which surveys have been conducted;
Police at top – rated most positively; courts and parole authorities most negatively;
Confidence levels same as performance ratings

6. BCS: % saying “good or excellent job”
1996
1998
2000
2001/02
2002/03
Police 64 60 53 47 48
Prisons 38 32 30 26 25
Magistrates 27 29
Judges 20 23 21
CPS
N/A
Probation service 24
Youth courts 14 12 16
Source: Nichola and Walker (2004)

7. Why are the public misinformed?
Biased media coverage;
Politics of punishment;
Criticism of system by criminal justice professionals;
Complexities of the Criminal Justice system – make the system hard to understand – parole for example;
Psychology of attitude formation.

9. Public Opinion Research: some warnings
Polls are often designed to influence as well as to measure public opinion;
Surveys seldom offer a clear choice or attach costs to competing criminal justice policies;
Public knowledge of criminal justice is seldom measured or considered

10. Example of Misuse of Polls
Question: “Should there be a reform of our justice system placing greater emphasis on the needs of victims, providing restitution and compensation for them and imposing minimum sentences and hard labour for all serious offenders?”

11. Effect of Information on Opinion: 3 international research examples
Sentencing burglars in UK
Home Confinement in Canada
Parole for murder in Canada

12. Attitudes to sentencing
Poll: between 70 and 80% of public believe courts too lenient at sentencing: UK; US; Australia; Canada; Belgium; Barbados; New Zealand.
But do polls tell the whole story?

13. Result changes when people given an actual case to sentence
“A man aged 23 is convicted of domestic burglary. He broke into a house belonging to an elderly man while the victim was away. The offender has previous convictions for the same crime (burglary), stole a videoplayer and damaged a TV set.”
Court outcome: 3 years in prison reduced on appeal to 2 years.
How do the public react?

15. Public Reaction to Home Confinement in Canada
Canadian example: terms of custody of up to 2 years may often be served at home with home confinement or a curfew:
Offender sentenced to 12 months for assault goes home – what do the public think about this?

16. Effects of providing information to Public: An Illustration
Representative survey of public
Random assignment to condition A or B
All respondents asked to consider case of burglary:
“An offender is to be sentenced for break and entering into a hardware store and stealing £1,500. He has committed similar offences in the past”.

17. Condition A
“The judge is trying to decide between a 6-month prison sentence or 6 months to be served in the community as a community-based sentence of imprisonment (conditional sentence)”.
Which do you favor?

18. Condition B
The judge is trying to decide between a 6-month prison sentence or 6 months to be served in the community as a community-based sentence of imprisonment (conditional sentence). If the offender receives the conditional sentence he will have to pay back the money, perform community work and report to authorities twice a week.
Which do you favor?

19. Public Sentencing Preferences
Condition A
Condition B
Prison
72%
35%
Home Confinement
28%
65%

20. Methodological Lessons
Public seldom given adequate amount of information about an issue such as the use of custody or mandatory sentencing;
When asked about specific cases, little detail is ever provided;
The consequence is that surveys elicit a punitive attitude;
Multi-method approach necessary: consider polls in light of qualitative and experimental research findings

21. Early parole for murderers in Canada
The law: jury reviews applications received after prisoner has served 15 years of a 25 year minimum sentence;
Polls on public attitudes to parole for murderers;
Results of jury reviews to date;
Lessons learned

22. Summarizing Public Attitudes to Sentencing
Members of public:
Know little about sentencing practices
Have unrealistic expectations of sentencing
Are aware of the limitations of custody
Support community penalties
Public favour punitive response but …
Respond more like judges when given more than a newspaper headline to consider

23. How to respond to public opinion
Competing Models
Ignore public
Follow public opinion (referenda)
Incorporate public opinion directly: sentencing by juries
Incorporate public opinion in a limited fashion: examples: Federal Sentencing Commission (US); Sentencing Advisory Panel (UK); Sentencing Commission (Canada); Sentencing Council (Victoria).

24. Thanks for your time and attention!