NCJ Number
106426
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 15 Issue: 3 Dated: (1987) Pages: 231-243
Date Published
1987
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Researchers who have examined the historical development of societal responses to crime have emphasized that opinions concerning what to do about crime are inextricably linked to contemporary perceptions of the causes of criminality, and these causal attributions have shifted over time.
Abstract
Data from public opinion surveys over the last four decades are examined to assess the nature and extent of changes in the public's attributions of crime causation. There has been a shift away from parental inadequacy and criminogenic home conditions as important causal factors to economic conditions and drug and alcohol use. There is emphasis on individual disposition toward deviance and dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system and structural economic conditions. Deviants are not considered victims of society so much as individuals with disposition toward malevolence, and the social control system is blamed for its failure to protect victims. Lay and professional attributions of crime causation shift in parallel ways. Now the crime control policy focuses on deterrence through stiffer penalties and greater efficiency in law enforcement, giving less attention to the social conditions that create crime. Further study should show the effect of cultural, political, and social conditions and attitudes in creating crime causal attributions. 2 tables, 7 notes, and 29 references. (Author abstract modified)