Students aged 15 to 17 were given a questionnaire asking them to list five crimes they had heard of, their source of information concerning each crime, the appropriate punishment, and the circumstances under which the punishment should be reduced. Various crimes were cited, and a systematic relationship was found between the type of crime, the source of information about the event, and the kind of punishment proposed. The study analyzed accounts of circumstances under which the punishment should be reduced in terms of distinctions made by psychologists interested in attribution processes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Three tables and 18 references are included. (Author abstract modified)