NCJ Number
99734
Journal
Sociological Spectrum Volume: 5 Issue: 1-2 Dated: (1985) Pages: 119-138
Date Published
1985
Length
20 pages
Annotation
The relationship between sociocultural background, emotionality, and beliefs about human nature and deviance and punitiveness was investigated in questionnaire data for 374 students at 3 Tennessee colleges.
Abstract
Specific variables examined in relation to punitiveness included sex; political and religious orientations; emotionality toward deviance; causal externality; functionalism; and beliefs about human trustworthiness, altruism, strength of will, independence, complexity, rationality, and variability. These variables were examined with respect to the offenses of child abuse, armed robbery, alcoholism, murder, embezzlement, and rape. While relationships varied among specific offenses, in general, lesser punitiveness was associated with female sex, liberal orientation, positive views of human nature, nonfundamentalist religious orientation, and lower emotionality. Overall, the results offer reasonably strong support for the supposition that differing experiential backgrounds are linked with differing views of human nature, and that these, in turn, are linked with punitiveness toward deviance. The best overall predictor of punitiveness was fundamentalist religious orientation, and emotionality tended to dominate belief in predicting behavior toward deviance. Included are tabular data and 12 references.