Attitudes Towards Severity of Punishment: A Conjoint Analytic Approach

Abstract

Past research suggests that attitudes towards severity of punishment are affected by crime‐specific factors. The impact of such factors has usually been investigated by between‐subjects designs. The studies reported in this paper, however, are based on within‐subjects designs, using conjoint analysis for data collection and analysis. Study 1 employs a rape scenario for investigating the impact of the victim–offender relationship and of two victim characteristics – provocative behavior and intoxication. Study 2 uses a theft and an assault scenario for analyzing the influence of several offender and crime characteristics on sanctioning: offender's age, readiness to confess, previous convictions, and severity of the offense. Results from both studies are reported and discussed in terms of utility values. These values represent the importance placed on the case characteristics focused upon. In addition to the general evaluation of case characteristics, inter‐individual differences are analyzed by means of hierarchical cluster analysis. Advantages of the conjoint analytic approach over conventional research methods on sanctioning behavior are discussed.

Keywords:

• Sentencing
• Severity of Punishment
• Conjoint Analysis
• Within‐subjects Design

Notes

¹E‐mail: [email protected]‐muenster.de

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wolfgang Bilsky1

1E‐mail: [email protected]‐muenster.de