Peacenik goes to school

Punitive attitudes toward criminals

Exploring the relevance of crime salience and economic insecurity

MICHAEL T. COSTELLOE, TED CHIRICOS AND MARC GERTZ Northern Arizona University, Florida State University and Florida State University, USA

Here are two paragraphs from the above article which was published in Punishment and Society, Vol.11(1): 25-49. 2009

..."Our data show that crime salience – when measured by concern about crime and
fear of crime – consistently and strongly predict punitive attitudes. Victim experience does not. The significance of concern and fear in this regard is manifest regardless ofthe sex, race or ethnicity of respondents. When economic insecurity is indicated by the expectation that one’s financial circumstances will not improve, but will stay the same in the coming year, there is little consequence for punitiveness. However, among those who expect their financial circumstances to get worse in the near future, support for punitive measures to deal with criminals is consistently elevated. This link between punitive attitudes and economic insecurity is found only for white males, and in particular, those white males who are less well educated and have relatively low income"....(pg.41-42.)
..."A related point is that when punitive attitudes toward criminals are continually expressed in political discourse and repeated by low income white males with low levels of education, the result, whether intended or not, is to reinforce racial divisions among members of the working and lower classes. Such divisions have historically weakened the prospect of a progressive political agenda (Egerton, 1994; Wilson, 1999) and they serve to deflect attention away from the actions of corporations – downsizing and outsourcing – and complementary government policies that are the fundamental cause of economic insecurity among blacks and whites alike"...(pg.43)
Sorry but there is no link to the full article. Readers will have to go to a library to access it.

Peacenik just happened to come across this article as he was browsing. The article is current although it is based on data from Florida in 1997. When Peacenik read this it made Peacenik think about the present economic insecurity. It made Peacenik think of Mad Max and the future. Will there be civil unrest? This article seems to provide a bit of empirical support for the idea. At the very least it suggests that many of the soon to be dispossessed by financial collapse will not go quietly into the night. By the way, both the DOW and TSX are in the red again today, with a couple of hours still to go before the closing bell. Oh yeah, Peacenik also read somewhere that when the economy goes down crime goes up.