Research:
Age, Criminal Punishment, and Accountability: What the Public Recommends for Guilty Defendants
with Professor Shichun Ling and Dr. Jacob Kaplan
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of a defendant’s age on public perceptions of recommended punishment, accountability, and the likelihood of re-offending. We use an experimental vignette design which provides a depiction of a violent robbery and varies the robber’s age from 15-25. Survey respondents were asked to recommend a prison sentence, a restitution amount, how accountable they believe the robber to be, and how likely he is to reoffend. Overall, there was no significant effect of age on recommended prison sentence but a significant effect $389 (p = 0.022) on recommended restitution. Female respondents recommended an additional 0.270 (p = 0.002) years of prison for each year of defendant age and no significant difference for restitution. Male respondents had no significant difference in recommended prison time but recommended an additional $500 (p = 0.017) in restitution for each year of defendant age. There was no effect of defendant age on accountability or reoffending. These findings have implications on policies that differentiate punishment by offender age, and for restorative justice practices given differences in preferred punishment by gender. Click to download the paper.
Age, Criminal Punishment, and Accountability: What the Public Recommends for Guilty Defendants
with Professor Shichun Ling and Dr. Jacob Kaplan
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of a defendant’s age on public perceptions of recommended punishment, accountability, and the likelihood of re-offending. We use an experimental vignette design which provides a depiction of a violent robbery and varies the robber’s age from 15-25. Survey respondents were asked to recommend a prison sentence, a restitution amount, how accountable they believe the robber to be, and how likely he is to reoffend. Overall, there was no significant effect of age on recommended prison sentence but a significant effect $389 (p = 0.022) on recommended restitution. Female respondents recommended an additional 0.270 (p = 0.002) years of prison for each year of defendant age and no significant difference for restitution. Male respondents had no significant difference in recommended prison time but recommended an additional $500 (p = 0.017) in restitution for each year of defendant age. There was no effect of defendant age on accountability or reoffending. These findings have implications on policies that differentiate punishment by offender age, and for restorative justice practices given differences in preferred punishment by gender. Click to download the paper.
