Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1980
Abstract
This paper develops a theoretical framework for investigating the socialpsychological dynamics of punishment reactions to criminal offenders. Two basic types of punishment motives are delineated: behavior control and retribution. The target, or focus, of these motives may be the offender or a broader social audience. Within each of the four cells defined by this classification, we review the literature describing how punishment responses are influenced by characteristics of the rule, the offense, and the offender, as well as by the attitude and personality of the reactor. A large number of empirically testable propositions are generated.
Citation
Neil Vidmar & Dale T. Miller, Sociopsychological Processes Underlying Attitudes Toward Legal Punishment, 14 Law & Society Review 565-602 (1980)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
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Available at: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/faculty_scholarship/1807