Trust and punitive attitudes

Abstract

The aim of the study reported in this article was to identify how trust influences punitive attitudes, and to find out whether this differs in respect of thieves and corruption offenders. The respondents surveyed in the study reported sentencing preferences that were harsher in the case of corruption offenders than in the case of common thieves. The study demonstrates that punitive attitudes towards thieves and corruption offenders are triggered by different mechanisms: most socio-demographic variables can explain punitive attitudes towards corruption offenders while trust in politicians can explain punitive attitudes towards thieves, but not towards corruption offenders. The study indicates that an examination of general punitive attitudes is not sufficient for understanding the punitive attitudes concerning a particular type of offence. The study also suggests that penal populism regarding non-violent street criminals is unlikely to boost politicians’ approval ratings if trust in politicians is high.