Crime Salience, Perceived Racial Bias, and Blacks' Punitive Attitudes

When it comes to criminal justice policy, black Americans face an important dilemma. On the one hand, black communities benefit from criminal penalties that remove offenders from their neigh-borhoods; on the other, punitive policies draw many blacks into a criminal justice system they view as racially discriminatory. Using data from the 2001 Race, Crime, and Public Opinion study, this paper examines how the competing concerns of crime salience and perceived racial bias in the criminal justice system affect blacks' support for harsh criminal justice policies. The effects of causal attributions for crime, political ideology, exposure to incarceration, and demographic factors are also addressed. The results indicate that fear of crime and individualistic attributions for criminal behavior have a significant and positive effect on their punitive attitudes, while perceived racial bias and vicarious exposure to incarceration decrease blacks' support for harsh punishments. (C) 2006 by The HaworthPress, Inc. All rights reserved.