Results indicate that only a substantial minority of respondents were interested in news media reports about criminal trials and not all of this minority could recall particular cases to the extent of remembering the sentences imposed. For the great majority, a prison sentence stands for toughness, while a somewhat smaller majority regarded probation as a mild sanction. Comparison of the sentences respondents felt offenders should have received with what they expected the sentence to have been suggests that many respondents have little respect for the sentencing system. Information about judicial disapproval of a sanction did not influence respondents' disapproval, even in a morally ambiguous case. Peer disapproval did influence respondents' disapproval, but only in a morally ambiguous case. Information on the severity of a sanction for an offense did not significantly affect respondents' disapproval of the offense. On the whole respondents seemed to make up their own minds about the culpability of offenses reported in the press. 5 tables, 21 notes, and 8 references.