Abstract

Restorative justice (RJ) is oriented to respond to crime in ways that would repair individual, relational, and social harm. This study examined the relationship between type of offense and public attitudes toward RJ, in addition to the psychological mechanisms undergirding this relationship. We examined a model of three offense types (sexual, violent, and property) and their differential effect on support for RJ. Moreover, we examined whether this relationship was mediated by incremental beliefs, i.e., that human character is malleable. We also explored two control variables previously found predictive of attitudes toward punishment: perceived seriousness of the offense and fear of crime. Participants (N = 608) read a definition of one offense and completed a survey regarding incremental beliefs, fear of crime, perceived seriousness of the offense, and support for RJ. The findings indicated main effects of offense type on attitudes toward RJ. Additionally, differences between offense types were found in incremental beliefs and attitudes toward RJ, such that for both variables, sexual offenses were rated the lowest followed by violent and property offenses. An indirect effect of offense type on attitudes toward RJ through incremental beliefs was also found, but not through fear of crime or perceived seriousness.

摘要

恢复性司法 (RJ) 旨在以修复个人、关系和社会伤害的方式应对犯罪。本研究探讨了犯罪类型与公众对 RJ 的态度之间的关系，以及支撑这种关系的心理机制。我们检查了三种犯罪类型（性、暴力和财产）的模型及其对支持 RJ 的不同影响。此外，我们检查了这种关系是否是由渐进的信念所调节的，即人类性格是可塑的。我们还探索了两个之前发现的预测惩罚态度的控制变量：对犯罪严重性的感知和对犯罪的恐惧。参与者（N = 608) 阅读了一次犯罪的定义，并完成了一项关于增量信念、对犯罪的恐惧、对犯罪严重性的感知以及对 RJ 的支持的调查。研究结果表明了犯罪类型对 RJ 态度的主要影响。此外，在对 RJ 的增量信念和态度方面发现了犯罪类型之间的差异，因此对于这两个变量，性犯罪被评为最低，其次是暴力犯罪和财产犯罪。还发现犯罪类型通过渐进信念对 RJ 的态度产生间接影响，但不是通过对犯罪的恐惧或感知的严重性。