Crime and Punishment: Public perceptions versus reality and the impact on sanctions for offenders

Abstract

Appropriate responses to crime and offenders are integral to maintaining a functioning society. However, political systems across the globe appear to prefer a punishment-based approach to criminal offenders over other responses. While crime rates are declining in many countries, including Britain, the United States, and Canada, the literature suggests that punishment-based approaches are neither the cause of this decline in crime rates nor effective in reducing recidivism. Therefore, in attempting to explain their continued popularity, this paper weighs up the relative merits of incarceration and alternatives to punishment and touches on the ‘punishment as an appropriate response’ view. It then focuses on examining the gaps that exist between reality and perceptions regarding crime rates, appropriate sanctions for offenders and the risks posed by offenders generally, and mentally disordered and white-collar offenders in particular. This examination shows that inaccurate, media-fuelled perceptions underlie the continued adherence to punishment-based approaches for offenders. In other words, these approaches are a reflection of public perceptions rather than reality.