Research indicates that the public is not nearly as punitive as some politicians seem to think, however their public attitudes about justice and punishment are real. The exploration of the relationship of emotions to both punitiveness and forgiveness is challenging, but offers an expanded knowledge of attitudes towards offenders. This chapter addresses three main questions: (1) what is known about public opinion and non-custodial penalties; (2) what accounts for differences in attitudes between individual members of the public; and (3) what implications does this research have for efforts to garner public support for non-custodial penalties? Due to a failure to communicate between criminal justice and the public, systematic reviews of public opinion regarding crime and justice are important. Tables, notes, and references