Specifying Public Support for Rehabilitation: a Factorial Survey Approach
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The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Specifying Public Support for Rehabilitation: A Factorial Survey Approach Author(s): Brandon K. Applegate Document No.: 184113 Date Received: August 23, 2000 Award Number: 96-IJ-CX-0007 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. SPECIFYING PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR REHABILITATION: A FACTORIAL SURVEY APPROACH A Research Report i Prepared for the National Institute of Justice Under Grant Nubmer 96-IJ-CX-0007 bY Brandon K. Applegate Assistant Professor Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies University of Central Florida April 1997 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. ABSTRACT Several researchers have made significant advances in identifying the factors that shape treatment attitudes. These characteristics, however, ,often have been examined in isolation, without considering contextual features that likely influence citizens' opinions. Further, only preliminary evidence is available on how the attributes of the criminal, the crime, and the provision of treatment can shape public perceptions. The main focus of this research, therefore, is on identifying the conditions under which public support for rehabilitation varies. Data for this study were collected through a mail survey of Ohio residents. Within the questionnaire, items were included that assessed demographic, experiential, and attitudinal information on each respondent. To assess the potential influence of offender, offense, and treatment characteristics on support for rehabilitation, several variables were combined to create a factorial vignette. This method allowed the researcher to determine the independent effects of each factor on support for rehabilitation. The respondents were asked to express their agreement or disagreement with five statements following the vignette. Additional items were included elsewhere in the survey instrument that assessed the respondents' global attitudes toward treatment. The respondents largely supported rehabilitation for This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. the offender described in the vignette. Assessing more global attitudes, a substantial minority of the respondents believed that rehabilitation should be the main emphasis'in most prisons, and support for correctional treatment was substantial across ten items that asked about particular rehabilitation policies. Further analysis of the vignettes revealed few correlates of support for treatment. Age and adherence to a doctrine of forgiving sinners were positively related to support for rehabilitation. Conversely, conservatism and belief in a vengeful God were negatively related to support. Support for treatment likewise was reduced when the vignette described an offender who had committed a more harmful offense, who had a more serious prior record, or who h.ad a serious drug habit, or when the offender was sentenced to intensive supervision probation. These variables were able to explain only 18 percent of the variation in attitudes toward rehabilitation. The implications of these findings are discussed. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. ACKNOWLEDGKMENTS Many individuals have played key roles in the educational experience that underlies this report, and so, I would like to share my accomplishment with them. First, I wish to acknowledge my debt to the numerous people who have influenced my life in many, often small, but tremendously meaningful ways. My’friends, family members, acquaintances, and even enemies have helped to make me who I am. Were it not for the interactions that we have shared, I might never have reached this point. For the influence they have had on my personal development, I wish to express my gratitude. Second, I wish to thank several people who have contributed more directly to my completion of this project. They have shaped my life so fundamentally that they deserve mention by name. My parents, Joan and Tom, socialized me into the importance of education and of understanding the views of others. Throughout this project (and the several years leading up to it), my wife, Dawn, has expressed unending patience and support. Finaily, I am indebted to Frank Cullen. His careful mentorship throughout my graduate career was invaluable. I am beginning my academic career with confidence and enthusiasm because of the wonderful people who have, and will continue to, surround me. Finally, this project required hard cash as well as other forms of support. Although a standard statement follows, I wish to personally acknowledge the financial This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. support provided by the University of Cincinnati and the National Institute of Justice. This project was supported by Grant No. 96-IJ-CX-0007 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, and a grant awarded by the University Research Council, University of Cincinnati. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Deparment of Justice or the University of Cincinnati. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD REHABILITATION INCONTEXT ................. 7 Public Opinion and Public Policy .......... 9 Attacking Rehabilitation: Is Treatment Dead? ...14 The Dominance of Rehabilitation ........14 The Decline of the Rehabilitative Ideal ....15 The Rise of Punitive Policies .........19 The Punitive Public? ................21 Indications of Public Punitiveness ......21 Justifications for Punishment .........30 Conclusions: Is the Public Punitive? .....37 The Tenacity of the Rehabilitative Ideal ......38 Public Support for Harsher Courts .......40 Public Support for the Death Penalty .....42 Other Domains of Apparent Punitiveness ....44 Public Support for Rehabilitation .......48 Support for Rehabilitation Within Special Groups ................54 Perceptions of Effectiveness .........57 Conclusion ..................61 Sources of Support for Rehabilitation .......61 Correlates of Punitiveness ..........63 Correlates of Support for Rehabilitation ...76 Research Strategy and Hypotheses ..........87 Complexity ..................87 1 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Global and Specific Attitudes .........94 CHAPTER 2: METHODS ...................96 Sample ....................... 97 Data Collection Procedure .............99 Choosing a Mail Survey ............99 Distribution of the Questionnaire ...... 101 Independep Variables .............. 105 Respondent Characteristics ......... 105 Factorial Survey Design ........... 118 Sample vignette ............... 137 Dependent Variable ................ 138 Measures of Global Attitudes ........... 140 Concluding Comments ............... 143 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS .................. 144 Support for Rehabilitation ............ 145 Correlates of Support for Rehabilitation ..... 149 Respondent Characteristics ......... 152 Offender Characteristics .......... 155 Offense Characteristics ........... 158 Treatment Characteristics .......... 161 A Comprehensive Model ............ 162 The First 27 Hypotheses ........... 167 Global and Specific Attitudes .......... 168 The Level of Global Support ......... 169 The Effects of Question Type ........ 175 2 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Correlates of Global Support