The public’s perception of crime control theater laws: It’s complicated.

Crime control theater (CCT) refers to laws that are widely supported by the public even though they are well-documented empirical failures in their effectiveness. Through a survey of a representative participant sample (N = 540), the present work examines 5 CCT laws (Amber Alerts, sex offender housing restriction laws, sex offender registry laws, safe haven laws, and three-strikes sentencing laws), comparing the public’s support and perceived effectiveness of these laws to five non crime control theater (NCCT) laws. Although CCT laws garnered more support and had greater perceived effectiveness than NCCT laws with a larger relative difference favoring support over effectiveness, there was considerable variation in ratings across these CCT laws. Three-strikes laws earned the least support and perceived effectiveness ratings of all examined CCT laws, while among self-identified women, sex offender-based CCT laws received particularly high ratings relative to other CCT laws. Different demographic and political characteristics may be at the root of these variations in public support for CCT laws, and the policy implications of these findings for altering the public attitudes toward various CCT laws are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - Category: Medical Law Source Type: research