Public Perceptions of the Seriousness of Crime: Weighing the Harm and the Wrong

The seriousness of crime or ‘crime seriousness’ bears on at least three areas of crime control policy (i.e., criminalization, law enforcement prioritization and sentencing) but is poorly defined. After providing a novel conceptualization of crime seriousness, this article explores the logic—or normative philosophical principles--behind the public’s assessment of crime seriousness and considers how the public’s logic lines up with legal principles and policy requirements. A general population survey administered in 2014 in Belgium and eliciting 1,278 responses indicates that the public’s logic is more moralist than consequentialist and raises doubts about the validity of public perceptions of crime seriousness as an indicator of crime seriousness for policy-making.

Publication year:2020

BOF-keylabel:yes

IOF-keylabel:yes

BOF-publication weight:1

CSS-citation score:2

Authors:International

Authors from:Higher Education

Accessibility:Closed