The Influence of Criminal Justice Major on Punitive Attitudes

Students majoring in criminology and criminal justice are assumed to have more detailed and accurate knowledge about crime, criminal justice, and punishment practices than peers majoring in other disciplines. The purpose of this study was to examine if criminology/criminal justice majors were more or less punitive than students pursuing other majors at three universities using standard predictors of punitiveness that have not been consistently examined in previous research. The results indicate that criminology and criminal justice students are more punitive in the combined three-campus sample and in two of the three-campus samples considered separately.