Contending Theories of Criminal Law - Statutory Penalties Versus Public Preferences

• NCJ Number: 82561
• Journal: Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1982) Pages: 25-46
• Author(s): M Warr; J P Gibbs; M L Erickson
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH22350
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Consistent with the 'consensus theory' of criminal law, the findings indicate substantial congruence between statutory penalties and the kinds of penalties preferred by respondents in an Arizona sample survey.

Abstract

However, that congruence is largely peculiar to penalties as they apply to adult offenders. Moreover, when it comes to the magnitude of penalties, there is much less congruence; and that finding lends support to the contending theory, the 'conflict theory' of criminal law. Both theories are judged defective because neither accounts for enormous variation among types of crimes as to the congruence between statutory penalties and penalties preferred by the public. (Author abstract)