| Abstrakt: |
The last two decades have witnessed a prolific legislative response to bias crime. In general such legislation authorizes prolonged incarceration for biased offenders, an approach backed by consistent majority public support according to national polls. However, research to date on a host of punitive criminal justice policies questions the ability of such a sole measure to accurately tap public views or its punitive nature. In particular it demonstrates the need to assess public support beyond global views regarding limited approaches to criminal justice issues. The current qualitative research on support for bias crime legislation highlights the need for more in-depth assessment of public views through its comparison of rural Pennsylvanian residents' thoughts on bias crime sentence enhancements, their own general approaches to bias crime and offenders, and specific responses to hypothetical vignettes. The results offer further documentation of a less punitive public when individuals are provided the opportunity to explain and elaborate on their criminal justice policy views. To the extent that public opinion plays a role in policy development or just justification, such research demonstrates the need to ensure its complexity is captured. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
