TY - JOUR
T1 - The public sense of justice in Scandinavia
T2 - A study of attitudes towards punishments
AU - Balvig, Flemming
AU - Gunnlaugsson, Helgi
AU - Jerre, Kristina
AU - Tham, Henrik
AU - Kinnunen, Aarne
PY - 2015/5/14
Y1 - 2015/5/14
N2 - Crime policy is increasingly legitimized by reference to the public sense of justice. A research project has therefore been conducted in all five Scandinavian countries in order to examine the public’s views on punishment. These views have been examined by means of simple questions in telephone interviews, by vignettes in postal questionnaires, and by focus groups having seen a film of a mock trial. The results show that, when asked simple questions, the public want stiffer sentences. In their assessments of the vignette crimes, the public demands on average lower prison sentences than judges, and this tendency becomes stronger in the focus group study. The propensities towards punitiveness seem to diminish with more information and increasing proximity to the parties involved.
AB - Crime policy is increasingly legitimized by reference to the public sense of justice. A research project has therefore been conducted in all five Scandinavian countries in order to examine the public’s views on punishment. These views have been examined by means of simple questions in telephone interviews, by vignettes in postal questionnaires, and by focus groups having seen a film of a mock trial. The results show that, when asked simple questions, the public want stiffer sentences. In their assessments of the vignette crimes, the public demands on average lower prison sentences than judges, and this tendency becomes stronger in the focus group study. The propensities towards punitiveness seem to diminish with more information and increasing proximity to the parties involved.
U2 - 10.1177/1477370815571948
DO - 10.1177/1477370815571948
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1477-3708
VL - 12
SP - 342
EP - 361
JO - European Journal of Criminology
JF - European Journal of Criminology
IS - 3
ER -
