Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 66 | Issue 2 Article 5 1975 Seriousness of Offenses: An Evaluation by Offenders and Nonoffenders, The Robert M. Figlio Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation Robert M. Figlio, Seriousness of Offenses: An Evaluation by Offenders and Nonoffenders, The, 66 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 189 (1975) This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. THE TounNAL OFCRIMINAL LAW & CRImINoLoGy Vol. 66, No. 2 Copyright C 1975 by Northwestern University School of Law Printed in U.S.A. THE SERIOUSNESS OF OFFENSES: AN EVALUATION BY OFFENDERS AND NONOFFENDERS ROBERT M. FIGLIO * The research reported here concerns the de- Building on the work of S. S. Stevens in termination of the subjective severities of var- the field of psychophysical scaling, Sellin and ious kinds of criminal offenses as judged by Wolfgang developed a subjective measuring convicted offenders and by nonoffenders. The stick for assessing the severity of various de- study aims -to determine if convicted offenders linquent acts based on the judgments of juve- rate the seriousness of offenses in the same nile court judges, police officers and college manner as do middle-class nonoffenders with students.3 They were able to scale the gamut of regard to (1) offense ranking, (2) absolute delinquent behavior involving components of and relative weight given to each offense and, injury, theft and/or damage down to the rather (3) degree of consensus about the seriousness insignificant forms of deviant activity resulting of each offense. in no injury, theft or damage along a contin- There are few precedents in the literature uum for which a power function was found to dealing with this topic.' Prison inmates have be an adequate fit. not been asked to evaluate general offensive The stimuli developed for this purpose have behavior in these terms systematically with a been administered to a variety of cross-cultural sensitive instrument. Until very recently an subject groups in Canada, England, Belgian undertaking such as this would have been dif- Congo, Taiwan, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and ficult to accomplish. While the literature Puerto Rico.4 Cultural differences have ap- abounds with discussions and tables so familiar to criminologists concerning the numbers and kinds of crimes observed among individuals, 2 See T. SELLIN & M. WOLFGANG, THE MFAS- UREMENT oF DELINQUENCY (1964). groups, societies, etc., little has been available For a discussion of psychophysical scaling tech- regarding the subjective content of the crimi- niques and their applications in this subject matter nal acts. The various types of criminal or de- see Akman, Figlio & Normandeau, Concerning the linquent behavior have been a traditional inter- Measurement of Delinqueiwy-A Rejoinder and Beyond, 7 BRIT. J. CRIm. 442 (1967) ; Rose, Con- est for criminologists but, surprisingly, a cerning the Measurement of Delinquency, 6 BRIT. J. carefully conceived attack on the determination Cane. 414 (1966) ; Stevens, A Metric for the So- of the seriousness of violative activity did not cial Consensus, 151 SCIENCE 530 (1966) ; Stevens, On the Operation Known As Judgment, 54 Am. begin until the published work of Sellin and SCIENTIST 385 (1966); Wilkins, New Thinking in Wolfgang in 1964.2 Crimintal Statistics, 56 J. CRim. L.C. & P.S. 277 (1965). For discussions on the application of mag- *Robert M. Figlio is a Research Associate at nitude (ratio) estimation procedures to non-physical the Center for Studies in Criminology and Crim- continua see R. Hamblin, Ratio Measuremnt and inal Law, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Sociological Theory (unpublished manuscript at Pennsylvania. Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri). 'But see Hsu, A Study of the Differential Re- 4 See Akman & Normandeau, The Measurement sponses to the Sellin-Wolfgang Iuex of Delin- of Crime and Delinquency in Canada: A Replica- quency, 1969 THE SOCIOLOGICAL COMMENTATOR 41, tion Study, 1 AcTA CRiM. 135 (1968); Akman & where the author found that the ordering of offenses Normandeau, Towards the Measurement of Crime by eighty-four inmates at the Ashland, Kentucky and Delhquency in England, CRIM. L. REv. (1969) ; reformatory was roughly similar to that reported by Akman, Normandeau & Turner, Replication of a Sellin and Wolfgang, although the assigned values Delinquency and Crite Index in French Canada, 8 were markedly different. See also Sechrest, Coin- CANADIAN J. CoRECTION 1 (1966); De Boeck & parison of Inmate's and Staff's Judgments of the Houchon, Prologomienes a Une Statistique Crimi- Severity of Offenses, 6 J. REs. CRIME & DELIN- nelle Congolaise, VI CAHIERS ECONOMIQUES ET QIENCy 41 (1969), where research found no differ- SOCIAUX, nos. 3-4 (1968). See also J. BRYAND, ence between inmates and prison staff on a scale M. CHAMBERS & D. FALCON, PATROL DEVELOPMENT developed by M. Warren and E. Reimer. M. WAR- (Department of Operational Research of the Uni- REN & E. REIMER, THE WARREN-REIMER OFFENSE versity of Lancaster) (1968) ; P. ENNIS, CRIMINAL SEVERITY SCALE (1959). VICTIMIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES: A REPORT ROBERT M. FIGLIO [Vl. 66 peared, although the Canadian and English have yielded quite similar scales lends support respondents appear to rate offense severities to the thesis that something reproducible is somewhat similarly to Americans. This "index happening and that a degree of confidence is of delinquency" has also been used successfully justified in the use of the scale. In any event in a variety of research settings to supplement we shall accept the scale as it stands for the the usual "counts and classifications" approach purpose of this investigation in order to main- to criminal behavior. tain comparability with the Sellin-Wolfgang Sellin and Wolfgang assert that American findings. Thus, this study shall attempt to de- society is based on the middle-class value sys- termine if the people who actually commit seri- tem, and that their scale is a measure of that ous crimes consider the severity of that behav- set of values, at least as applied to the serious- ior in ways similar to or divergent from a ness of various kinds of offenses. That some of middle-class sample.6 the replications, particularly those in Canada, 7 METHOD OF A NATIONAL SURVEY, (National Opinion Re- From Rahway Prison, an adult penal institu- search Center, University of Chicago) (1967); A. Brancato, Replications of the Sellin-Wolfgang tion of some 1000 inmates situated in the Index of Delinquency, 1970 (unpublished manu- Trenton-New York conurbation, a sample of script at the University of Pennsylvania) ; Hsu, some 200 respondents was drawn (of which supra,note 1 ; M. Hsu (with the collaboration of A. Normandeau), The Measurement of Crime and 193 actually took part), while the whole popu- Delinquency in Taipei, 1968 (unpublished manu- lation of 524 residents of Annandale Farms, a script at the University of Pennsylvania) ; A. juvenile detention center in rural New Jersey, Normandeau and A. Sa'danoer, Towards the Measurement of Crime and Delinquency in Indo- was asked to take part in the study. The prob- nesia, 1968 (unpublished manuscript at the Univer- lems of scheduling and security were such that sity of Padang); G. Reiss and A. Normandeau, the number of participants had to Measuring Criminality in Brazil, 1968 (unpub- be limited at lished manuscript at the University of Rio); B. Rahway Prison. Bell and A. Normandeau, A Crime Index for In addition, the undergraduate sociology Mexico, 1968 (unpublished manuscript at the Uni- classes (216 students) of the University versity of Mexico) ; A. Velez-Diaz, An Investiga- of tion of Differences in Value Judgments between Pennsylvania were asked to respond to the Youthful Offenders and Non-Offenders in Puerto Sellin-Wolfgang scale, first, to provide test-re- Rico, 1969 (unpublished manuscript at Florida State University); A. Walker, Replication of test capability with the original study of 19648 Philadelphia-Montreal Scaling of Seriousness of Offenses, 1966 (unpublished manuscript at Har- 6 It is not the intent here to overlook the prob- vard University). lem of unreported crime, "hidden delinquency" or 5 See A. Normandeau, Trends in Robbery as other factors which may have a bearing upon the Reflected by Different Indexes, in DELINQUENCY: defining of the dichotomy offender-nonoffender. It SELECrE STUDIES (T. Sellin & M. Wolfgang, may be that the so-called "nonoffender" sample eds. 1969); M. WOLFGANG, R. FIGLIO & T. SELLIN, used in this study may have offenders in it. How- DELINQUENCY IN A BIRTH COHORT (1972); W. ever, for our purposes, at this time, we need only MAHONEY, MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF consider the modal type of each group. On that CRIMINAL REHABILITATION PROGRAMS, OCCASIONAL level, at least, convicted offenders surely represent PAPERS #5, DEPT. OF HEALTH, EDUCATION AND a different social grouping than do college stu- WELFARE (1968); W. MAHONEY & C. BLOZAN, dents. COsT-BENEFIT EVALUATION OF WELFARE DEMON- r In 1967 Dr. Lloyd W. McCorkle, then Director STRATION PROJECTS: A TEST APPLICATION TO JU- of Institutions and Agencies for the State of New VENILE REHABILITATION; RMC REPORT UR-040, Jersey, was asked to lend his approval of and aid DEPT. OF HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE to this project which required contact with prison- (1968); F. Cannavale, Testing the Usefulness of ers. Through his associate, Mr. Albert C. Wagner, the Index of Delinquency for Police, 1967 (unpub- Director of the Division of Correction and Parole, lished mimeo at the University of Pennsylvania) ; meetings with Mr. James Benedict, statistical as- F. Cannavale & B. Curnow, A Comparison of sistant in charge of research and records, Mr.