“Politics in Policy: An Experimental Examination of Public Views Regarding Sentence Reductions via Second Chance Mechanisms”

The title of this post is the title of this new paper authored by Isabella Polito and Colleen Berryessa now available via SSRN.  Here is its abstract:

Objective(s): This research examines how the cost of incarceration to the state and type of offense affects public support for different levels of sentence reductions (10%, 25%, 50%) via policies that reduce incarcerated populations called “second chance” mechanisms, as well as whether political ideology or affiliation predicts such support.

Hypotheses: (1) Across different levels of sentence reductions, participants were expected to show significantly decreased support for the use of second chance mechanisms for violent compared to nonviolent crimes, (2) but also show significantly increased support when exposed to cost information to the state, compared to not receiving that information. (3) Political ideology and affiliation were expected to moderate support across different levels of sentence reductions.

Method: A 6 (offense type) x 2 (cost of incarceration to the state) experiment with a national sample of the U.S. public (N = 419) was used to assess support for using second chance mechanisms to achieve different levels of sentence reductions.  Moderation analyses assessed how participants’ political ideology and affiliation impacted support.

Results: Participants did not show significantly less support for the use of second chance mechanisms to achieve sentence reductions for violent, compared to non-violent, crimes.  Providing cost information did not significantly impact support for any level of sentence reduction.  Across sentence reductions, political ideology significantly moderated support for the use of second chance mechanisms, where being more conservative predicted decreased support for a 10% sentence reduction when cost information was also provided.

Conclusions: Crime type and political ideology, but not fiscal costs, appear in some way to bear on public support for sentence reductions via second chance mechanisms.  Overall, evidence suggests that public support for the use of second chance mechanisms presents an opportunity to advance reforms that reduce incarcerated populations and enhance the public’s perceptions of the justice system’s legitimacy.