Further Readings
Jibson, M. D., Glick, I. D., & Tandon, R. (2004). Schizophrenia
and other psychotic disorders. Focus, 2,17–30.
Lieberman, J. A., Stroup, T. S., & Perkins, D. O. (Eds.).
(2006). The American Psychiatric Publishing textbook of
schizophrenia. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric
Publishing.PUBLICOPINIONABOUT CRIME
Hundreds of research studies that have examined a
wide range of topics on public perception about crime
support the conclusion that citizens generally are not
well-informed about this issue. For example, the pub-
lic perceived that crime rates for several different
types of crime were increasing during times when in
fact those crime rates were decreasing or remaining
stable. The public also overestimates the proportion of
crime that is violent and makes incorrect generaliza-
tions about the types of crimes most commonly com-
mitted by specific ethnic groups. Furthermore, people
hold many stereotypes about specific crimes that are
inconsistent with the types of cases that come through
the courts and with how those crimes are defined in
statutes. Jurors with these misperceptions often acquit
atypical cases or recommend less severe charges.
There is consensus across different cultures and
countries that violent crimes are more serious than
property crimes, which in turn are perceived as more
serious than drug or victimless crimes. Despite public
consensus on relative seriousness, criminal laws in
Canada and the United States provide higher maxi-
mum jail sentences for some property crimes, such as
grand larceny, than for violent crimes, such as
fondling a child or inflicting moderate injuries on a
person with the intent to harm. All social groups also
attributed greater importance to environmental factors
than to individual dispositional or mental factors as
general explanations for why crimes occur.
Given the potential influence of public perceptions,
this entry reviews research addressing the following
questions: (a) To what extent are the public’s general
beliefs about crime consistent with the nature and
severity of reported crime? (b) How much agreement
exists in the public’s views about the seriousness of
specific criminal acts, and how well does the criminal
law mirror public views about the seriousness of dif-
ferent crimes? (c) Based on the accumulated research,
what are the nature of the public’s stereotypes and theextent to which these stereotypes are consistent with
the caseload of the criminal justice system and with
how laws are defined?Public Views of the Severity
and Amount of Crime
Systematic national survey research in several coun-
tries, including the United Kingdom, Canada,
Australia, Spain, and the United States, has shown
that the public is not well-informed about the nature
of crime. In the 1990s, when reported violent crime
showed a significant decrease, the majority of the
public believed that violent crime was increasing.
Studies that have compared citizens’ estimates of crime
rates with police data have repeatedly found that the
public overestimates the amount of theft, fraud, bur-
glary, rapes, and violent crime. The majority also
overestimates the proportion of crime that is violent;
for example, violent crime comprises about 10% of
the crime reported to the police, but the majority esti-
mated that violent crime accounted for 30% or more.
The majority also indicated that specific crimes, such
as murder or burglary, were increasing during times
when the system actually showed a decline. Most
people also substantially overestimate the percentage
of offenders released from prison who commit another
serious crime. Whereas 30% to 40% of offenders
released are arrested again for another serious crime,
the majority of the public believes that about 60% to
75% commit additional serious crimes. The gap, of
course, between public estimates and official police
data is quite large, and the difference between reported
crime and the actual commission of serious crimes
may not entirely account for the difference. The news
media’s reporting of serious crimes and released pris-
oners committing new serious crimes also may con-
tribute to the public’s overestimates of the amount and
severity of crime.Public’s Ranking of the
Seriousness of Offenses
Researchers and professionals often assume that crim-
inal laws and their associated punishment match pub-
lic opinion concerning the relative moral wrongfulness
and harmfulness of different crimes. This model,
called the consensual model, assumes that societal
members of different gender, social class, and ethnic-
ities agree about what values should be protected andPublic Opinion About Crime——— 655P-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:43 PM Page 655