Crime Seriousness Scales - Public Perception Feedback to Criminal Justice Policymakers

• NCJ Number: 102768
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 14 Issue: 5 Dated: (1986) Pages: 413-431
• Author(s): P B Hoffman; P L Hardyman
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

Findings from the National Survey of Crime Severity, the largest survey ever conducted of how the general public in the United States ranks the seriousness of a variety of offenses, are compared with the offense severity index used by the U.S. Parole Commission as one component of its decisionmaking guidelines.

Abstract

This comparison illustrates a practical method for using survey research to provide feedback to criminal justice policymakers. The necessity of distinguishing between harm and culpability, when examining the concept of 'offense seriousness' in the context of sentencing policy, is then discussed. (Author abstract)