Is compassion the flip side of punitiveness? Incorporating COVID-19 crisis in experimental vignettes to examine support for visitation and vaccination in prison.

Objectives: The public hold both punitive and pragmatic attitudes toward prison policy. Yet it is unclear whether the public supports compassionate efforts that do not directly relate to recidivism. This study explores the role of exclusionary symbolic aims (prioritizing non-prisoner groups), inclusionary symbolic aims (minimizing health risk for the vulnerable), and cost (taxes). Methods: Using a quota-based national sample fielded in spring 2021 (N=1260), we embedded two experimental vignettes to assess support for vaccination priorities and personal protective equipment (PPE) for in-person visitation. We also examine respondent experiences (e.g., exposure to COVID-19, vaccine status, personal or vicarious arrest) and beliefs (e.g., political ideology, racial resentment, stigma). Results: Consistent with dominant exclusionary symbolic aims, respondents showed strong preferences for non-prisoner groups in facilitating safe in-person visits (in long-term care facilities) and vaccine priorities (to prison guards). Inclusionary symbolic aims were less clear when examining risk from vaccine side effects or helping vulnerable populations (the elderly). High cost reduced support for compassionate policy. Conclusions: Public support for policies aimed at maintaining the health of individuals who are incarcerated may be motivated by similar factors as punishment preferences. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11292-022-09523-z.

Public Opinion About #MeToo Victims and Offenders: A Nationwide Experiment.

During the #MeToo movement, many sexual assault survivors are discredited because of their delay in disclosure or failure to report to the police. The current study investigates which factors influence public opinion towards sexual assault victims and offenders by analyzing data from a national factorial survey. Results show disclosing the offense immediately to the public, reporting to the police, and having a witness are positively related to punitive attitudes towards the offender, via increased perceived credibility of the victim. The results highlight the importance of understanding extralegal factors in shaping stereotypic views about sexual assault in the #MeToo era.

A Neglected Population: Media Consumption, Perceived Risk, and Fear of Crime Among International Students.

The 4.5 million international students worldwide bring in multifold benefits to the advancement of culture, economy, and national security in education host countries. Surprisingly, few prior studies have explored international students' fear of crime, which may harm their mental and physical health and undermine their educational achievements. The current study aims to fill in this research void by investigating international students' fear of crime in line with the cultivation theoretical framework, which postulates that media consumption cultivates fear of crime. The analyses draw on a sample of 398 international students attending nine different public and private universities across the United States. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), I investigate the extent and correlates of students' fear of crime. The findings reveal that international students are more fearful in the United States than in their home countries. SEM results show that controlling for students' fear in their home countries, attention paid to crime news is positively related to fear in the United States, through perceived victimization risk. The SEM results also suggest that exposure to non-U.S. social media (e.g., WeChat and Weibo) is positively related to respondents' fear of crime, whereas exposure to U.S. social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) is not related to fear of crime. The current study highlights the importance of studying the impact of fear of crime and social media use on international students.