Predictors of Public Punitiveness in the Caribbean
This study utilizes crime victimization, perceptions of crime in the community, fear of crime, trust in criminal justice system institutions, and perceptions of social cohesion as predictors of punitive attitudes among the public in the Caribbean. Data which were collected by the United Nations Development Programme in 2012, data from nationally representative samples of adults in seven Caribbean countries (N = 11,207) were used to examine these relationships. The results show that fear of crime, social cohesion, and perceptions of crime in the community were the most closely associated with punitive attitudes towards criminal offend-ers. The paper concludes with suggestions about how this information may help policymakers reduce punitive public sentiment in the region.
The Caribbean Journal of Criminology (CJC), a publication of the Institute of Criminal Justice and Security (ICJS), The University of the West Indies (UWI), is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal, published annually, and financed by the four campuses of The UWI. The CJC primarily aims to promote critical examination of the complex and persistent crime and security problems in the Caribbean.
