Ethnicity, attributions for offending behaviour, and judgements of responsibility and severity of sentence

C. Field; J.P. Beven; A. Pedersen

doi:10.1080/13218710701879533

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Ethnicity, attributions for offending behaviour, and judgements of responsibility and severity of sentence

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Ethnicity, attributions for offending behaviour, and judgements of responsibility and severity of sentence

C. Field, J.P. Beven and A. Pedersen

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, Vol.15(1), pp.119-130

2008

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13218710701879533

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Abstract

An attribution model was used to explore whether a male offender’s ethnicity impacted on how responsible he was judged to be for his offending behaviour in a sample drawn from the Perth metropolitan community in Western Australia and how severe the imposed sentence was perceived to be. While an offender’s ethnicity had no direct effect on judgements of responsibility and sentence severity, the causal factors for an offence were attributed as more stable when the offender was identified as an Indigenous Australian. Responsibility was predicted by attributions of controllability for both Anglo-Australian and Indigenous offenders, and locus of control for Indigenous offenders only. Severity of sentence was predicted by locus of control for both Anglo-Australian and Indigenous offenders; stability for Indigenous offenders; and being male and responding to a violent offence for Anglo-Australian offenders. A number of theoretical and practical implications arising from these findings are discussed.

Details

Title: Ethnicity, attributions for offending behaviour, and judgements of responsibility and severity of sentence
Authors/Creators: C. Field (Author/Creator)
J.P. Beven (Author/Creator)
A. Pedersen (Author/Creator)
Publication Details: Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, Vol.15(1), pp.119-130
Publisher: Routledge
Identifiers: 991005543874407891
Copyright: Taylor and Francis
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Law; School of Psychology
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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Citation topics: 6 Social Sciences; 6.73 Social Psychology; 6.73.447 Racial Identity
Web Of Science research areas: Criminology & Penology; Law; Psychiatry; Psychology, Multidisciplinary
ESI research areas: Psychiatry/Psychology