Public and Police Officers' Crime Seriousness Perceptions and Criminal Policy Preferences

In recent years, there has been limited research on crime seriousness perceptions and criminal policy preferences, although these are interesting sources of information for criminal policy-makers.

Crime seriousness is an essential criterion for decisions concerning (de)criminalization, prioritization in crime control and prevention, and sentencing. However, so far no criteria or methodologies have been developed to assess crime seriousness, and therefore policy-makers often use public and criminal justice officials’ perceptions of crime seriousness as an indicator of actual crime seriousness. Furthermore, public and criminal justice officials’ crime seriousness perceptions also impinge on their criminal policy preferences. Empirical research on criminal policy preferences has almost exclusively focused on attitudes towards sentencing and punishment, though, ignoring the growing differentiation of contemporary criminal policies.

Against this background, through surveys, we will (1) compare Flemish public and police officers’ crime seriousness perceptions and criminal policy preferences; (2) investigate for both groups the impact of crime seriousness perceptions on criminal policy preferences; and (3) consider for both groups the significance of emotions, values and moral foundations as predictors of crime seriousness perceptions and criminal policy preferences.