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Symbolic Racism and Whites’ Attitudes Towards Punitive and Preventive Crime Policies

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Law and Human Behavior

Abstract

This study analyzes the determinants of Whites’ support for punitive and preventive crime policies. It focuses on the predictive power of beliefs about race as described by symbolic racism theory. A dataset with 849 White respondents from three waves of the Los Angeles County Social Survey was used. In order to assess the weight of racial factors in crime policy attitudes, the effects of a range of race-neutral attitude determinants were controlled for, namely individual and structural crime attributions, perceived seriousness of crime, crime victimization, conservatism and news exposure. Results show a strong effect of symbolic racism on both types of crime policies, and in particular on punitive policies. High levels of symbolic racism are associated with support for tough, punitive crime policies and with opposition to preventive policies. Sub-dimensions of symbolic racism qualified these relationships, by showing that internal symbolic racism (assessing perceived individual deficiencies of Blacks) was most strongly predictive of punitiveness, whereas external symbolic racism (denial of institutional discrimination) predicted opposition to structural remedies. On the whole, despite the effects of race-neutral factors, the impact of symbolic racism on policy attitudes was substantial. Thus, White public opinion on both punitive and preventive crime policies is at least partially driven by racial prejudice.

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Notes

  1. Many of the states in the United States now mandate more or less extensively increased sentences for repeat offenders under laws called “Three Strikes and You’re Out.” Under this law, anyone convicted of three felonies is subject to a mandatory prison sentence of 25 years to life. The present study was carried out in California, where this law is one of the strictest in the country.

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Acknowledgment

The first and second authors were supported by Swiss National Science Foundation grants (No. PA001-104981 and No. 8210-067659 respectively).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Eva G. T. Green

    Present address: Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

  2. Christian Staerklé

    Present address: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Social Science Research, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

    Eva G. T. Green, Christian Staerklé & David O. Sears

Authors
  1. Eva G. T. Green
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  2. Christian Staerklé
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  3. David O. Sears
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eva G. T. Green.

Additional information

Portions of this article were presented at the 26th Annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, July 6–9, 2003, Boston, and at the 5th Annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, January 29–30, 2004, Austin, Texas.

Appendix

Appendix

Symbolic Racism items

Internal symbolic racism

Work ethic and individual responsibility

  1. 1.

    It's really a matter of some people not trying hard enough; if Blacks would only try harder they could be just as well off as Whites. (1997, 1998, 1999 LACSS)

  2. 2.

    Irish, Italian, Jewish and many other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up. Blacks should do the same without any special favors. (1997 LACSS)

  3. 3.

    Blacks work just as hard to get ahead as most other Americans (R).* (1998 LACSS)

  4. 4.

    Most Blacks who receive money from welfare could get along without it if they tried. (1997 LACSS)

    Excessive demands

  5. 5.

    Blacks are getting too demanding in their push for equal rights. (1997, 1999 LACSS)

  6. 6.

    Blacks are demanding too much from the rest of society. (1998 LACSS)

  7. 7.

    Some say that Black leaders have been trying to push too fast. Others feel that they haven't pushed fast enough. (1998 LACSS)

  8. 8.

    How much of the racial tension that exists in the United States today do you think Blacks are responsible for creating? (1998, 1999 LACSS)

  9. 9.

    Blacks generally do not complain as much as they should about their situation in society (R). (1998 LACSS)**

External symbolic racism

Denial of discrimination

  1. 10.

    How much discrimination against Blacks do you feel there is in the United States today, limiting their chances to get ahead (R)? (1997, 1998, 1999 LACSS)

  2. 11.

    Generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for Blacks to work their way out of the lower class (R). (1997, 1998, 1999 LACSS)

  3. 12.

    Discrimination against Blacks is no longer a problem in the United States. (1998 LACSS)

  4. 13.

    Racial and ethnic discrimination is still as serious problem in the United States (R). (1999 LACSS)

  5. 14.

    Some say that the civil rights people have been trying to push too fast. Others feel that they haven't pushed fast enough. (1997 LACSS)

    Undeserved disadvantage

  6. 15.

    Over the past few years, Blacks have gotten less than they deserve (R). (1997, 1998, 1999 LACSS)

  7. 16.

    Do Blacks get much more attention from the government than they deserve? (1997 LACSS)

  8. 17.

    Government officials usually pay less attention to a request or complaint from a Black person than from a White person (R). (1997 LACSS)

  9. 18.

    Over the past few years, Blacks have gotten more economically than they deserve (R). (1998 LACSS)**

Note. With one exception, these items are listed in the four themes as in the a priori categorization of Henry and Sears (2002). Later empirical analysis (Tarman & Sears, 2005) suggested that the “civil rights people have been trying to push too fast” item better falls into the “denial of discrimination” rather than the “excessive demands” theme, so that change has been made above.

*(R) indicates items that are reverse-coded.

**Items discarded from final symbolic racism scores.

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Green, E.G.T., Staerklé, C. & Sears, D.O. Symbolic Racism and Whites’ Attitudes Towards Punitive and Preventive Crime Policies. Law Hum Behav 30, 435–454 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-006-9020-5

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