NCJ Number
235143
Journal
Punishment & Society Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2011 Pages: 198-229
Date Published
April 2011
Length
32 pages
Annotation
The individual has, until recently, been generally excluded from law and society explorations of the twin increases in penal and welfare punitiveness.
Abstract
The individual has, until recently, been generally excluded from law and society explorations of the twin increases in penal and welfare punitiveness. However, public opinion enjoys an implicit role in policy change that is only now beginning to receive attention. This study explores the presence and nature of the correlation between attitudes toward welfare and penal policy at the individual level in general and across time. Using individual-level data from the General Social Survey (19722006), this study concludes that individuals' punitiveness in penal policy preferences is well correlated with opposition to welfare spending, and that this relationship has persisted across time, though with significant variation. Moreover, the author found that much of the correlation across time is due to cross-policy punitiveness, and that cross-policy welfarism is responsible for only a small (though growing since the late 1990s) portion of the correlation. The author suggests that further research exploring this correlation may help us to understand the mechanism that links penal and welfare policy at the state level as well. (Published Abstract)