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Correlates of Public Opinions Toward Punishment: The Taiwanese Case

NCJ Number
172164
Journal
International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1997) Pages: 119-139
Author(s)
B Wu
Date Published
1997
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study examines the impact of attitude toward the limits of official power and other attitudinal correlates upon the Taiwanese public's view of punishment.
Abstract
Data for this study were from a sample of 3,751 adult respondents who participated in a national survey in 1984. Findings show that the majority of Taiwanese favored an immediate and harsh punishment of criminals. Furthermore, acceptance of a broader official power and other attitudinal correlates determined the public's punitive opinions. The study is limited by the measurement of the dependent variable in two ways. First, only a single item was used to measure the public's views on the treatment of offenders. Future research should incorporate a more sophisticated measuring device to ensure the generalization of the research findings. Second, the dependent variable survey's respondents' opinions toward the treatment of violent offenders may be skewed by the extreme nature of the scenario presented, which in turn may have distorted the construct validity of the dependent variable. At best, the dependent variable represents a surrogate measure of the complex public sentiment toward punishment. Tables, notes, references, appendix