NCJ Number
95809
Date Published
1984
Length
39 pages
Annotation
Most Ohio citizens feel safe in their own neighborhoods even after dark and do not wory about crime more than about other concerns, like illness and accidents.
Abstract
This fourth survey of Ohio citizen attitudes about crime and criminal justice gathered responses from 805 citizens in 1983. Ohioans are more pessimistic about crime in general than about crime in their own neighborhoods. More than half of Ohio's households use some crime prevention measures. The use of such measures has increased by 50 percent over the last 3 years. Respondents generally favored waiting periods and registration as handgun control measures, but did not believe that handguns should be banned. Blacks felt more favorable than whites toward current sentencing patterns. Ohioans overwhelmingly favor jail or prison terms for first-time drunk drivers, felons using firearms, and repeat serious juvenile offenders. They do not regard fear of prison as an effective deterrent to crime. They regarded changing behavior as an appropriate goal for first-time offenders in prison, but felt that the objective for repeat offenders should be isolation and punishment. Despite their views that criminal sentences are too lenient, citizens favored many options allowing alternatives to incarceration. Figures, data tables, respondents' characteristics, and list of other publicaitons of Ohio's Statistical Analysis Center.