Available online at:
https://cc.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/cc%3Apsycjournal

J Camosun Psyc Res. (2021). Vol. 3(1), pp. 120-130.
Submitted Fall 2020; accepted July 2021.

What Impacts People’s Perceptions and Judgement
Regarding the Balance of Punishment and Rehabilitation
in Criminal Justice Systems?
Authors: Taelyn Munro* and Tom Heywood
Supervising Instructor & Assistant: Michael Pollock and Kristina Andrew, Psyc 110
(“Experimental Psychology”)
Department of Psychology, Camosun College, 3100 Foul Bay Road, Victoria, BC, Canada V8P 5J2
*Corresponding author email: Taelynmunro@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
In this paper our goal was to understand what impacts perception and judgment of the balance
of punishment and rehabilitation so that we could learn how to better inform people on the
benefits of rehabilitation. Previous research has determined punitiveness is affected by
knowledge of criminology, media, perception of crime levels, and education. In our correlational
study, we tested the strength of these relationships by examining naturalistic daily changes in
their variables longitudinally over a two-week period. This was tested using a daily survey which
measured exposure to media, criminological education, levels of fear of crime, and punitiveness.
Data pooled from our study showed there was a correlation between the consumption of local
news and an increased fear of crime, as well as a correlation between the consumption of media
that promotes harsh on crime views and an increase in punitiveness. However, there was no
correlation found between the consumption of criminological education tabloid news and an
increase in punitiveness.
1. Introduction
1.1 Research Problem
Perceptions of the public affect the
method of dealing with those convicted of a
crime. The psychological need for criminal
actions to be punished demands
understanding by those who wish to work in
the criminal justice system because the
desire for retribution plays a key role into
how the justice system is designed. Groups
such as news media, political parties and
education systems have the ability to create
content that can affect how people view

crime and punishment. The perceptions of
the public are highly influenced by various
types of interest groups, making the way
individuals view crime and punishment a
reflection of what is told or shown to them.
We wish to better understand what different
factors impact people’s perceptions and
judgments in terms of punishment and
rehabilitation in the justice system.
1.2 Literature Review
Previous research indicates that a
person’s knowledge of criminology will
impact their views on policies surrounding
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crime, punishment, and rehabilitation. When
researchers (Griffin et al., 2016)
electronically surveyed both experts and
members of the general public using
national poll questions, their direct statistical
comparison produced telling results.
Criminal Justice experts were more liberal in
their responses than the general public,
clearly favouring rehabilitative policies over
punitive ones. Criminal Justice experts were
also more likely to be found in favour of
drug legislation reforms than the general
public. This confirmed the research’s
hypothesis that education in Criminal Justice
led to an individual possessing a more
empathetic and science-based view of crime
and punishment.
Another factor previously found to
influence an individual’s perception of crime
and subsequent punishment is media
coverage. In a survey collected at three
American universities and one Canadian
university, researchers (Kohm et al., 2012)
explored how different media coverage
impacted university student’s fears of crime.
The research confirmed previous studies in
which media salience is a significant
predictor of fear of crime. The research
concluded that television news and social
media, particularly dating sites, increased
the students’ level of fear of crime.
Factoring in controls for respondent
characteristics, estimated risk of
victimization, and concern about crime, the
study ultimately concluded that those who
identified Local TV news as their primary
source of crime news were significantly
more fearful of crime than those who
sourced from other outlets.
In addition, factors such as perception of
crime levels, and the type of media
consumed affect the punitiveness of a
population. Research done by Spiranovic et
al. (2012) found that after surveying 5,571
randomly selected Australian participants,

measuring punitiveness with a survey using
a five-point Likert scale. The scores ranged
from a scale of 7 to 35, with 35 being the
most punitive. Participants who had a
higher than normal perception of the amount
of crime that was being committed were
more punitive, and the media consumed by a
participant also impacted their punitiveness,
with those who consumed tabloid news
being the most punitive.
Repeated messaging by the media has
also been found to affect how members of a
survey in Wisconsin viewed the death
penalty or rehabilitation of prisoners. In a
2001 study, Sotirovic found that after
surveying 395 adults in Wisconsin that those
who displayed more complex thoughts
tended to have more moderate views on the
death penalty or rehabilitation, while those
with simpler thoughts tended to have more
extreme attitudes towards the death penalty
or rehabilitation. The media consumed by
the simple thought process group was more
likely to repeat messages supporting either
the death penalty or rehabilitation (Sotirovic,
2001).
1.3 Hypotheses
• Hypothesis #1: If a person is
exposed to a criminological education, they
are less punitive.
•
Hypothesis #2: The more local
news a person consumes, the more likely it
is for that person to experience fear of crime.
• Hypothesis #3: Consumption of
tabloid news increases punitiveness.
• Hypothesis #4: Consumption of
media that repeats messages of harsher
punishment increases punitiveness.

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2. Methods
2.1 Participants
The two authors of this paper served as
the participants in its studies. The
participants ranged in age from 19-22 years
old, with an average age of 20.5 years, and
included one female and one male. The
participants were all undergraduate students
at Camosun College who completed the
current studies as an assignment for Psyc
110 “Experimental Psychology” and were
grouped together due to their mutual interest
in what impacts people’s perceptions and
judgement regarding the balance of
punishment and rehabilitation in criminal
justice systems. Both participants are
students of the Criminal Justice program at
Camosun College.
2.2 Materials and Procedure
We first performed a correlational study
to test concurrently all of our hypotheses by
examining naturalistic daily changes in their
variables longitudinally. Each participant
kept a study journal with them at all times
over this study’s two-week period in order to
record self-observations of the following six
variables: (1) level of education in
criminology (2) consumption of local news
(3) consumption of tabloid news, (4)
consumption of programs with repeated
messaging of harsh punishment of crime, (5)
punitiveness, and (6) fear of crime.
Participants indicated their exposure to
criminological education on a daily basis.
This could be done through reading
academic articles or consuming programs
created by criminologists. The participants
measured their exposure by recording each
time they consumed material from the
discipline of criminology. This number was
tallied at the end of the day and recorded.

In a daily survey, participants recorded
their intake of local news in a study journal.
The amount of local news was recorded by
the minute and the total number of minutes
was recorded at the end of each day.
To measure the levels of tabloid news
consumed by participants daily, they kept a
journal to measure the amount using time as
a measurement. For example, one might
record that they consumed 20 minutes of
tabloid news on a given day. Tabloid was
defined using the Merriam-Webster
Dictionary definition “featuring stories of
violence, crime, or scandal presented in a
sensational manner”.
The participants also measured how
much of the content they consumed in a day,
repeated messaging of harsh criminal
punishment. This was measured on a fivepoint Likert scale. In their study journal
they recorded on a content to content basis;
this could be news stories, social media
posts or television shows etc.… The scale
ranges from 1= not crime related, 2= not
tough on crime, 3= fair on crime, 4= tough
on crime, 5= harsh on crime. At the end of
the day the participants averaged their
results for that day and recorded that
average.
Study participants recorded in their study
journals each time they felt punitive
throughout the day. Punitiveness was
defined as ‘feeling that someone should be
punished for a crime’. The participants
added the number of times they felt punitive
up at the end of the day to record a daily
total.
Participants also recorded in their study
journals their fear of crime on a daily basis
throughout the two-week study. They
indicated their fear of crime on a five-point
scale: 1= no fear of crime, 2= little fear of
crime, 3= fear of crime, 4= very fearful of
crime, and 5= Immense fear of crime. The
survey was taken at the end of each day.
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To assess the strength and statistical
significance of associations between
variables predicted by our four hypotheses,
we performed Pearson product moment
correlations of their predictor variables
(criminological education, consumption of
local news, consumption of tabloid news,
and consumption of content with repeated
messaging) with their outcome variable
(punitiveness). For testing Hypothesis #1,
we correlated the amount of criminological
education with the participants’
punitiveness. For testing Hypotheses #2, we
correlated the amount of consumption of
local news with the level of fear of crime
based on the participants’ daily response.
For testing Hypothesis #3, we correlated the
amount of tabloid news consumed in a day
with the level of punitiveness the respondent
recorded they felt on that day, and their
perception of crime levels. For testing
Hypothesis #4, we correlated punitiveness,
with the amount of content the respondent
consumed that had repeated messages that
promoted harsh punishment for crime. We
performed all of the above correlations
separately for each participant as well as
using data pooled across all of the
participants. For the correlations using
pooled data, in addition to using the raw
data, we also performed correlations after
we had first transformed the data from each
participant into z-scores in order to
standardize differences in averages and
variability seen between the participants in
their data and thus make them more
comparable. A correlation coefficient was
considered statistically significant if the
probability of its random occurrence (p) was
< .05 (i.e., less than 5% of the time expected
by chance alone).

3. Results
As shown in Table 1, there was a
significant correlation between the amount
of local news watched in a day and the time
spent worrying about crime. There was also
a significant correlation between how harsh
on crime the media consumed was and the
amount of punitiveness felt in a day. There
was not a significant correlation between
criminological education, and tabloid news
on punitiveness felt in a day. While
significant for Participant #1 (r = .58, p=
0.03), criminological education was not
significantly correlated with punitiveness
with the data from Participant #2 (r = -0.26,
p= 0.37), with the pooled raw data (r = .03,
p = .87; see Figure 1), nor with the pooled
standardized data (r = 0.16, p = .42). Local
News was significantly correlated with the
amount of time spent worrying about crime
for both participants (r ≤ .76, p ≥ .001), with
the pooled raw data (r = .76, p = 6.28E-07;
see Figure 2), and with the pooled
standardized data (r = .75, p = 1.26E-06)
were both significant. Tabloid news
consumption was significantly correlated
with punitiveness using the data from
Participant #1 (r = .72, p = .003), but not
from Participant #2’s (r = -0.10, p = 0.74),
with the pooled raw data (r = .16, p = .42;
see Figure 3), nor with the pooled
standardized data (r = .31, p = .11). Media
with harsh messaging on crime was
significantly correlated with punitiveness for
both participants (r ≤ .73, p ≥ .002) with the
pooled raw data (r = .57, p = .001), and with
the pooled standardized data (r = .65, p =
.0001). The association between the amount
of time spent watching local news and the
amount of time spent worrying about crime
showed the strongest correlation with an rvalue of .76 based off the pooled raw data.

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4. Discussion
4.1 Summary of Results
Based on previous research we
hypothesized that three variables would lead
to an increase in punitiveness; these were
low levels of criminological education
(hypothesis #1), consumption of tabloid
news (hypothesis #3), and consumption of
news that promotes a harsh on crime
message (hypothesis #4). Based on the
pooled data of our participants in the
correlational study, only the consumption of
harsh on crime media supported the
prediction of increased punitiveness. We
also hypothesized based on previous
research that the amount of time participants
spent watching local news everyday would
correlate to an increase in the amount of
time they spent worrying about crime
(hypothesis #2). The pooled data from the
correlational study showed that there was
support for the prediction that it did increase
the amount of time spent worrying about
crime.
4.2 Relation of Results to Past Research
If a person is exposed to a criminological
education, they are less punitive (Hypothesis
#1) did not share the same results as the
previous study. The original study outlined a
strong correlation between an educational
background in criminology and the
favouring of rehabilitation over punishment
done through an electronic survey (Griffin et
al., 2016). Our study with two participants
over a two-week period showed little
correlation between criminological
education and the need for punishment. It is
important to note however, that both
participants hold similar levels of
criminological education and that a two-

week time period is not sufficient for the
level criminological education to change. It
is possible that both the limited number of
participants and the limited time period
skewed the results of Hypothesis #1.
Hypothesis #2 stated that the more local
news a person consumes, the more likely it
is for that person to experience fear of crime.
This hypothesis was based on a survey done
by Kohm et al. (2012) that collected surveys
from three American universities and one
Canadian university, and showed how
different media coverage impacted
university students’ fears of crime. Our
study done by two people over two weeks
showed the more consumption of local news
there was then the more fear of crime was
displayed. This finding is in line with the
previous research.
Our finding on tabloid news (Hypothesis
#3) is not in line with previous studies.
Research done by Spiranovic et al. (2012)
found that people who consume tabloid
news are more likely to be punitive than
those who do not. This study was conducted
with over 5,000 participants. In our
correlational study the participants
consumed very little tabloid news, which
may have led to insignificant results. Future
studies should be done with a larger
participant group to gain for diverse results,
as well as doing an experiment in which
tabloid news can be controlled as a variable.
This may be able to determine whether there
is a correlation between tabloid news and
punitiveness, while controlling for the
confounding variable of the type of people
who watch tabloid news by choice.
The findings on media with harsh
messages of crime (Hypothesis #4) is in line
with previous research. Sotirovic (2001)
found through a survey done on adults in
Wisconsin that those surveyed who agreed
with the death penalty tended to consume
media that promoted messages of a harsh on
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crime stance. While our study was different
in that is measured the amount of harsh on
crime media that participants consumed and
how many times they felt punitive in a day;
we still found similar results in that the more
media you consume that promotes a harsh
on crime message leads to higher rates of
punitiveness.

References
Griffin, T., Pason, A., Wiecko, F., & Brace,
B. (2018). Comparing Criminologists’
Views on Crime and Justice Issues With
Those of the General Public. Criminal
Justice Policy Review, 29(5), 443.
Kohm, S. A., Waid-Lindberg, C. A.,
Weinrath, M., Shelley, T. O., & Dobbs,
R. R. (2012). The impact of media on
fear of crime among university students:

A cross-national comparison. Canadian
Journal of Criminology and Criminal
Justice, 54(1), 67–100. https://doiorg.libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/10.313
8/cjccj.2011.E.01
Sotirovic, M. (2001). Effects of media use
on complexity and extremity of attitudes
toward the death penalty and prisoners’
rehabilitation. Media Psychology, 3(1),
1–24. https://doiorg.libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/10.120
7/S1532785XMEP0301_01
Spiranovic, C. A., Roberts, L. D., &
Indermaur, D. (2012). What predicts
punitiveness? An examination of
predictors of punitive attitudes towards
offenders in Australia. Psychiatry,
Psychology and Law, 19(2), 249–261.
https://doiorg.libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/10.108
0/13218719.2011.561766

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Table 1
Correlation coefficient (r) values, with number of daily trials (n) per correlation in brackets.

Variables correlated
Criminological Education
& Punitiveness
Local News & Fear of
Crime
Tabloid News
Consumption &
Punitiveness
Harsh on Crime Media &
Punitiveness
* p < .05.

Participant
#1
.58(14)

Participant
#2
-0.26(14)

Pooled
raw data
.03(28)

Pooled
standardized
data
.16(28)

.76(14)

.74(14)

.76(28)*

.75(28)*

.72(14)

-0.10(14)

.16(28)

.31(28)

.73(14)

.57(14)

.57(28)*

.65(28)*

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Figure 1
Scatterplot of daily exposure to criminological education and the outcome it has on the amount
of time participants felt punitive in a day using pooled raw data across participants.

Punitivness (Amount of times
participants wanted to punish somone)

Pooled Raw Data
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0

2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Exposure to criminoligical education (Amount of criminoligical education
consumed per day, rated on a five point scale)

Marker color indicates which participant data is from: red = participant #1, and orange =
participant #2. Some data might not be visible in the figure due to overlapping markers.

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Figure 2
Scatterplot of minutes of local news consumed in a day and the amount of time in minutes,
participants worried about crime, using pooled raw data across participants.

Fear of crime (Amount of time
participants were worried about crime )

Pooled Raw Data
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0

10

20

30
40
50
Local news (minuets watched)

60

70

Marker color indicates which participant data is from: red = participant #1, and orange =
participant #2. Some data might not be visible in the figure due to overlapping markers.

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Figure 3
Scatterplot of tabloid news consumed in a day and the amount of times participants felt punitive,
using pooled raw data across participants.

Punitivness (Amount of times participant
wished punishment on someone.)

Pooled Raw Data
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0

1

2
3
4
Tabloid news (Minutes Watched)

5

6

Marker color indicates which participant data is from: red = participant #1, and orange =
participant #2. Some data might not be visible in the figure due to overlapping markers.

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Figure 4
Scatterplot of daily consumption of harsh on crime media and the amount of times participants felt
punitive in a day, using pooled [type here “raw” or “standardized”] data across participants.

Punitivness (Amount of times
participants wished punishment on
someone.)

Pooled Raw Data
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0

1
2
3
4
5
Media with messaging of harsh criminal punishment (Average of all the
media consumed in a day, rated on a 5 point scale.)

6

Marker color indicates which participant data is from: red = participant #1, and orange =
participant #2. Some data might not be visible in the figure due to overlapping markers.

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