The Public Looks at Crime and Corrections.

Nearly 1,000 adults and 200 teenagers in a representative sample of 100 geographical locations were interviewed regarding: (1) general attitudes toward corrections, (2) feelings about contacts with convicted offenders on their return to the community, and (3) opinions about corrections as a career. Some findings were: (1) Whites and Negroes agreed that parental laxity is the single most important factor in the development of a criminal but Negroes felt that the cumulative impact of poverty, unemployment, and a bad environment is significantly more important, (2) Police received generally positive ratings, (3) There was an undercurrent of opinion that the police and courts have been overrestricted, (4) It was felt that rehabilitation was underemphasized, (5) Probation was not favored for most adult crimes, (6) Drug addiction and alcoholism were considered illnesses, (7) Willingness to offer job opportunities to released convicts was limited, (8) There was support for Halfway Houses, (9) Attitudes toward volunteer work were positive, and (10) Teenagers are not interested in corrections work because they feel positive results are unlikely. A summary of this report is available as VT 008 851. (JK)

Microfiche. [Washington D.C.]: ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.