Punishment justifications in rape cases: a community study

Abstract

Norway is one of the countries with the most progressive criminal justice systems in the Western world. Traditionally, the Norwegian criminal justice system has been mainly based on treatment and deterrence perspectives. While it is believed that criminal justice practices should be in accordance with public attitudes, few studies in Scandinavia have investigated public attitudes towards criminal justice sanctions in a methodologically sound manner. The current study is the first to investigate the attitudes of the Norwegian public towards punishment of rapists. In a Norwegian community sample (N = 475) from 2005, participants found the typical sentencing severity of a convicted rapist too lenient. The participants did report that as a global sentencing orientation, they preferred incapacitation. When presented with a specific rape case, their sentencing judgements were oriented towards both incapacitation and retribution, but their global orientation were not related to their specific judgements. Aggravating circumstances (e.g. violence was used) were found to influence the participants’ judgements more than when no aggravating circumstances were present (e.g. no violence was used). Few gender or educational differences were found, which indicates that these attitudes towards punishment of rapists are quite consistent across demographical groups.

Keywords:

• Norwegian criminal justice
• punishment justifications
• community study
• attitudes

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the Editor and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on an earlier draft, to Professor Alex Nunn for his assistance in proof reading and providing comments on the manuscript, and to Dr Philip Hodgson for final proof reading and corrections.

Notes

1. The civil claim of monetary restitution was however granted in favour of the victim (www.vg.no).

2. We would like to thank the Editor Henrik Elonheimo for this argument.

3. The proportions of singles, cohabiting and married women and men in the sample were highly comparable to those reported by Statistics Norway (SSB) for the relevant age groups in 2005. For both the sample and the national estimates, with increased age the proportion of singles decreased, the proportion of cohabiting decreased slightly, and the proportion of married increased markedly. According to SSB, 32% of the nation’s population aged 25–64 years had higher education (College/University degree) in 2005, women more than men. Due to the region’s university (NTNU) the level of higher education in the region under study is approximately 5% higher (according to SSB).