The main focus of this research was on identifying the
conditions under which public support for rehabilitation varies. A
single, multivariate analysis method was used so that the influence of
each respondent, criminal, crime, and treatment characterististic
could be determined within the context of all other factors. The
research also explored differences between global and specific
attitudes toward rehabilitation. Data for this study were collected
through a mail survey of 1,000 Ohio residents (Part 1). The initial
mailing was sent to all 1,000 members of the sample on May 28,
1996. Several followups were conducted, and data collection efforts
ended on August 26, 1996. Questionnaire items elicited demographic,
experiential, and attitudinal information from each respondent. To
assess the potential influence of offender, offense, and treatment
characteristics on the respondent's support for rehabilitation,
several variables were combined to create a factorial vignette. This
method allowed the independent effects of each factor on support for
rehabilitation to be determined. The respondents were asked to express
their agreement or disagreement with five statements following the
vignette: (1) general support for rehabilitation, (2) effectiveness of
intervention, (3) basing release decisions on progress in
rehabilitation programs, (4) individualizing sentences to fit
treatment needs, and (5) expanding treatment opportunities for
offenders. Types of offenses included in the vignettes were robbery,
burglary, aggravated assault, larceny, motor vehicle theft, fraud,
drug sales, and drug use. These offenses were selected since they are
well-known to the public, offenders are arrested for these offenses
fairly frequently, and the offenses are potentially punishable by a
sentence of either prison or probation. Several attributes within the
particular offenses in the vignettes were designed to assess the
influence of different levels of harm, either financial or
physical. Offender characteristics and offense selection for use in
the vignettes were weighted by their frequency of arrests as reported
in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 1995 Uniform Crime Report
data. A rating of the seriousness of each offense was assigned using a
separate survey of 118 undergraduate university students (Part 2), and
the resulting seriousness score was used in the analysis of the
vignettes. Additional items on the mail survey instrument assessed the
respondent's global and specific attitudes toward
treatment. Independent variables from the mail survey include the
respondent's age, education, income category, sex, race, political
party, rating of political conservativism, personal contact with
offenders, religious identity salience, religiosity, attitudes toward
biblical literalness and religious forgiveness, fear of crime, and
victimization. Variables from the vignettes examined whether support
for rehabilitation was influenced by offender age, race, sex, type of
offense committed, employment status, substance use, prior record,
sentence, and treatment program. Global support for rehabilitation was
measured by responses to two questions: what the respondent thought
the main emphasis in most prisons was (to punish, to rehabilitate, to
protect society), and what the main emphasis should be. Items assessed
variations in the respondent's attitudes toward rehabilitation by
offender's age, sex, and prior record, location of treatment, and the
type of treatment provided. Variables from the crime seriousness
survey recorded the respondent's rating of various crime events,
including assault and robbery (with or without a weapon, with varying
degrees of injury, or no injury to the victim), burglary, larceny, and
auto theft (with varying values of the property stolen), drug dealing,
drug use, and writing bad checks.
