Belief in Meritocracy and Criminal Sentencing Decisions: Bias in Punitive Criminal Sentencing Attitudes

Item

Media
ColeHorning_PP_2024.pdf
Title
Belief in Meritocracy and Criminal Sentencing Decisions: Bias in Punitive Criminal Sentencing Attitudes
Creator
Cole Horning
Degree Name
professional_project
Master of Science in Justice Studies
Project Type
professional_project
Date
6/15/2024
Abstract
Criminal sentencing in the United States of America is a subjective process involving multiple parties contributing to decisions to convict, incarcerate, and determine the length of incarceration. Decisions regarding criminal sentencing have a substantial impact on individual and community welfare. The US has an issue with over incarceration particularly among minority communities, contributing to the US holding the largest incarcerated population in the world. The determinants of criminal sentencing decisions are researched to understand and rectify over incarceration and inequality in incarceration within the US. Individual biases and punitive attitudes are examined for their impact on criminal sentencing decisions. Hierarchy-legitimizing myths are related to individual bias and punitive attitudes to determine correlation. Bias within criminal sentencing is examined to determine prevalence of racial, socioeconomic, age, and gender bias therein. Hierarchy-legitimizing myths result in biases that impact individual perceptions regarding defendant culpability and risk of future crime. Punitive vengeance attitudes predispose individuals to prefer harsh and lengthy criminal sentencing decisions. Personal belief in hierarchy-legitimizing myths and punitive vengeance attitudes are correlated. The direct connections between hierarchy-legitimizing myths and criminal sentencing decisions are not well understood. Some studies suggest a potential bias against low-income individuals in the US criminal justice system. Findings suggest that varied personal attitudes have an outstanding impact on criminal sentencing decisions. To reduce the harm caused by unequal and harsh criminal sentencing decisions, the goals of criminal sentencing need to be systematized and the influence of bias reduced by removing considerations of future crime risk from these decisions.
Keywords
criminal justice, punitive attitudes, meritocracy
Committee Member
Misty Weitzel
Rights
https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en
Western Oregon University Library has determined, as of 6/29/2024, this item is in copyright, which is held by the author. Users may use the item in accordance with copyright limitations and exceptions, including fair use. For other uses, please ask permission from the author.
Language
English
Type
Text