Exploring individual-level predictors of punitive attitudes in Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Western countries tend to display preferences for the harsh punishment of people with criminal justice involvement. Drawing on a representative survey of the Australian population, the present study explores punitive attitudes and what factors shape the development of these attitudes at an individual level. More specifically, the study considers the role of age, sex, level of education, geographic location, perceptions of crime, fear of crime, confidence in the criminal justice system, media consumption, crime causation, beliefs in redeemability, interpersonal trust, political ideology, racial essentialism, and minority threat in predicting the punitive attitudes of Australians. The results indicate that generally Australians are somewhat punitive and that the strongest predictors of these attitudes are: internal attribution of crime, perceptions of rising crime rates, a lack of belief in redeemability, geographic location (specifically rural areas), a lack of interpersonal trust and a lack of support for multicultural principles together, creating a more robust understanding of punitive attitudes in Australia, which is currently lacking.