NCJ Number
174104
Date Published
1997
Length
347 pages
Annotation
This volume examines public knowledge and public attitudes toward crime and criminal justice, with emphasis the mismatch between the public perception of crime and the reality of crime statistics.
Abstract
The discussion also focuses on sources of crime information, information processing by the public, and the role of public opinion in the politics of criminal justice issues. The analysis uses extensive data from the United States and includes comparisons with Canada and the United Kingdom. Individual chapters explore public knowledge of crime rates and the characteristics of offenders, public awareness of legal reforms and the criminal justice response to crime, research on public perceptions of the seriousness of crime as a social problem, and public theories of crime and perceptions of offenders. Further chapters examine public evaluations of the ethical standards and the procedural fairness of the police and courts, the role of direct experience in shaping public support for these institutions, public perceptions of the way the police handle cases, and public attitudes toward the adversarial system and the jury. Other chapters discuss public attitudes toward the goals of sentencing, parole, and capital punishment; the ways in which public opinion is used to define central concepts in constitutional law such as obscenity and privacy; and public attitudes toward gun control and juvenile delinquency. The final chapter suggests steps needed to improve research on public attitudes. Tables, chapter notes, and approximately 800 references