Date of Award
5-29-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Criminal Justice
First Advisor
Robert Lytle
Abstract
Public punitiveness has grown in recent decades and two components that help explain this rise are negative racial attitudes and empathy. For this thesis, a survey was passed out to 66 undergraduate criminal justice students at a mid-sized southern university. In order to better understand respondent relationship to punitiveness, a factor analysis was conducted that divided punitiveness into three scales. These scales were subsequently measured using three OLS regression analyses testing punitiveness with negative racial attitudes, empathy and control variables. The results showed no significant relationships between negative racial attitudes, empathy, and punitiveness. However, control variables such as age and race were significant in explaining these relationships. There may be several reasons for these unusual findings, but sample makeup and operationalization of punitiveness might be cogent explanations. Future research suggestions include random sampling of the general population and utilizing validated measures for punitiveness, negative racial attitudes and empathy. Finally, some potential policy implications follow.
Recommended Citation
Khan, Arsala Aneeq, "Public Punitiveness: The Intersection of Racial Attitudes and Empathy" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 938.
https://research.ualr.edu/etd/938
