Title

Public Views On Sentencing Juvenile Murderers: The Impact Of Offender, Offense, And Perceived Maturity

Keywords

attitudes; homicide; juveniles; murder; punishment

Abstract

Concerns about juvenile murderers were raised by increases in juvenile homicide rates between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Little is known, however, about what level of punishment the public desires for such youths. Using a randomly selected sample of Florida citizens and a factorial vignette survey approach, the present study assesses the impact of characteristics of the offender, aspects of the offense, and perceptions of a youth's maturity on public preferences for the punishment of juvenile murderers. Our findings show that the public favors short sentences of incarceration or less punitive responses in most cases and that the most salient determinant of punitiveness is the type of murder committed. These results are discussed in light of prior research and current policy directions. © 2006, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

Publication Date

1-1-2006

Publication Title

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

Volume

4

Issue

1

Number of Pages

55-74

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204005282312

Socpus ID

34247673538 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/34247673538

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