DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02543.v1
title: Public Support for Rehabilitation in Ohio, 1996
title: Version 1

description: The main focus of this research was on identifying the
 conditions under which public support for rehabilitation varies. A
 single, multivariate analysis method was used so that the influence of
 each respondent, criminal, crime, and treatment characterististic
 could be determined within the context of all other factors. The
 research also explored differences between global and specific
 attitudes toward rehabilitation. Data for this study were collected
 through a mail survey of 1,000 Ohio residents (Part 1). The initial
 mailing was sent to all 1,000 members of the sample on May 28,
 1996. Several followups were conducted, and data collection efforts
 ended on August 26, 1996. Questionnaire items elicited demographic,
 experiential, and attitudinal information from each respondent. To
 assess the potential influence of offender, offense, and treatment
 characteristics on the respondent's support for rehabilitation,
 several variables were combined to create a factorial vignette. This
 method allowed the independent effects of each factor on support for
 rehabilitation to be determined. The respondents were asked to express
 their agreement or disagreement with five statements following the
 vignette: (1) general support for rehabilitation, (2) effectiveness of
 intervention, (3) basing release decisions on progress in
 rehabilitation programs, (4) individualizing sentences to fit
 treatment needs, and (5) expanding treatment opportunities for
 offenders. Types of offenses included in the vignettes were robbery,
 burglary, aggravated assault, larceny, motor vehicle theft, fraud,
 drug sales, and drug use. These offenses were selected since they are
 well-known to the public, offenders are arrested for these offenses
 fairly frequently, and the offenses are potentially punishable by a
 sentence of either prison or probation. Several attributes within the
 particular offenses in the vignettes were designed to assess the
 influence of different levels of harm, either financial or
 physical. Offender characteristics and offense selection for use in
 the vignettes were weighted by their frequency of arrests as reported
 in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 1995 Uniform Crime Report
 data. A rating of the seriousness of each offense was assigned using a
 separate survey of 118 undergraduate university students (Part 2), and
 the resulting seriousness score was used in the analysis of the
 vignettes. Additional items on the mail survey instrument assessed the
 respondent's global and specific attitudes toward
 treatment. Independent variables from the mail survey include the
 respondent's age, education, income category, sex, race, political
 party, rating of political conservativism, personal contact with
 offenders, religious identity salience, religiosity, attitudes toward
 biblical literalness and religious forgiveness, fear of crime, and
 victimization. Variables from the vignettes examined whether support
 for rehabilitation was influenced by offender age, race, sex, type of
 offense committed, employment status, substance use, prior record,
 sentence, and treatment program. Global support for rehabilitation was
 measured by responses to two questions: what the respondent thought
 the main emphasis in most prisons was (to punish, to rehabilitate, to
 protect society), and what the main emphasis should be. Items assessed
 variations in the respondent's attitudes toward rehabilitation by
 offender's age, sex, and prior record, location of treatment, and the
 type of treatment provided. Variables from the crime seriousness
 survey recorded the respondent's rating of various crime events,
 including assault and robbery (with or without a weapon, with varying
 degrees of injury, or no injury to the victim), burglary, larceny, and
 auto theft (with varying values of the property stolen), drug dealing,
drug use, and writing bad checks.
description: Because of the important role that public opinion
 plays regarding decisions about punishment and sentencing policy, an
 accurate appraisal of the public's views is critical. The most
 pressing issue concerning public attitudes toward rehabilitation is
 the lack of specificity in the existing research. Several researchers
 have made significant advances in identifying the factors that shape
 treatment attitudes, but the relationships reported have been observed
 by collating results across numerous studies rather than in a single
 project. Also, these characteristics often have been examined in
 isolation, without considering contextual features that likely
 influence citizens' opinions. Further, only preliminary evidence is
 available on how the attributes of the criminal, the crime, and the
 provision of treatment can shape public perceptions. Therefore, the
 main focus of this research was on identifying the conditions under
 which the public support for rehabilitation varies. A single,
 multivariate analysis method was used so that the influence of each
 respondent, criminal, crime, and treatment characterististic could be
 determined within the context of all other factors. The research also
 explored differences between global and specific attitudes toward
rehabilitation.
description: Data for this study were collected through a mail
 survey of 1,000 Ohio residents. Distribution of the surveys followed
 Dillman's (1978) total design method. The initial mailing was sent to
 all 1,000 members of the sample on May 28, 1996, and included a copy
 of the questionnaire and a business reply envelope. Accompanying these
 materials was a personalized letter from the project director
 requesting that the respondent complete and return the survey. The
 letter emphasized the importance of the study and noted that the
 project was sponsored by the University of Cincinnati and the United
 States Department of Justice. A reminder letter was sent to the entire
 sample one week later. After another two weeks, a replacement survey,
 accompanied by a reminder letter and return envelope, was mailed to
 all those who had not yet responded. A final mailing was sent to all
 nonrespondents seven weeks after the initial mailing and included all
 of the survey materials. To ensure the confidentiality of the
 responses, a number was printed on the return envelope. Each number
 was removed from the mailing list when it was received. Each new
 letter took a slightly different approach to encourage responses, and
 the mailings to nonrespondents became slightly more urgent with each
 follow-up. The first three mailings were sent using first-class
 postage, but to further emphasize the importance of the final mailing,
 it was sent by registered mail. Data collection efforts ended on
 August 26, 1996. Questionnaire items elicited demographic,
 experiential, and attitudinal information from each respondent. To
 assess the potential influence of offender, offense, and treatment
 characteristics on the respondent's support for rehabilitation,
 several variables were combined to create a factorial vignette. This
 method allowed the independent effects of each factor on support for
 rehabilitation to be determined. The respondents were asked to express
 their agreement or disagreement with five statements following the
 vignette: (1) general support for rehabilitation, (2) effectiveness of
 intervention, (3) basing release decisions on progress in
 rehabilitation programs, (4) individualizing sentences to fit
 treatment needs, and (5) expanding treatment opportunities for
 offenders. The computer program, Vig-Write, was used to generate the
 vignettes and was programmed to screen out illogical combinations and
 to weight the probability that the computer would select any
 particular level within each dimension to create a universe of
 vignettes that more accurately represented reality. Types of offenses
 included in the vignettes were robbery, burglary, aggravated assault,
 larceny, motor vehicle theft, fraud, drug sales, and drug use. These
 offenses were selected since they are well-known to the public,
 offenders are arrested for these offenses fairly frequently, and the
 offenses are potentially punishable by a sentence of either prison or
 probation. Regarding the particular offenses included within each
 offense category in the vignettes, several attributes within offenses
 were designed to assess the influence of different levels of harm,
 either financial or physical. Offender characteristics and offense
 selection for use in the vignettes were weighted by their frequency of
 arrests as reported in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 1995
 Uniform Crime Report data. A rating of the seriousness of each offense
 was assigned using a separate survey of 118 undergraduate university
 students, and the resulting seriousness score was used in the analysis
 of the vignettes. For the crime seriousness survey, respondents were
 asked to rate each offense based on a short event description on a
 scale of 1 to 9, where 1 equalled "not at all serious" and 9
 equalled "extremely serious". Additional items on the mail survey
 instrument assessed the respondent's global and specific attitudes
toward treatment.
description: Independent variables from the mail survey include
 the respondent's age, education, income category, sex, race, political
 party, rating of political conservativism, personal contact with
 offenders, religious identity salience, religiosity, attitudes toward
 biblical literalness and religious forgiveness, fear of crime, and
 victimization. Variables from the vignettes examined whether support
 for rehabilitation was influenced by offender age, race, sex, type of
 offense committed, employment status, substance use, prior record,
 sentence, and treatment program. Global support for rehabilitation was
 measured by responses to two questions: what the respondent thought
 the main emphasis in most prisons was (to punish, to rehabilitate, to
 protect society), and what the main emphasis should be. Ten items
 assessed variations in the respondent's attitudes toward
 rehabilitation by offender's age, sex, and prior record, location of
 treatment and the type of treatment provided. Variables from the crime
 seriousness survey recorded the respondent's rating of various crime
 events including assault and robbery (with or without a weapon, with
 varying degrees of injury or no injury to the victim), burglary,
 larceny, and auto theft (with varying values of the property stolen),
drug dealing, drug use, and writing bad checks.
description: Response Rates: The attempts to encourage participation resulted
 in 559 completed or nearly-completed questionnaires being
 returned. Sixty-seven unanswered questionnaires were returned by the
 United States Postal Service because the addressee had moved and left
 no forwarding address or the forwarding order had
 expired. Thirty-eight surveys were returned unanswered because the
 intended respondent was deceased or was too ill to complete the
 questionnaire. The resulting response rate for those members of the
 sample who received a survey and were capable of completing it was
 62.4 percent. Although this response rate is generally considered
 adequate, some concerns may be raised about the representativeness of
 the resulting sample. Typical of mailed surveys, this sample
 overrepresents males, whites, older residents of Ohio, and individuals
 with higher education and thus higher incomes. A response rate is not
 applicable for the seriousness survey, since all respondents were
volunteers.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: Part 1: Random sampling from the database of Survey
 Sampling, Incorporated, in Ohio. Part 2: Student volunteers at the
University of Central Florida.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Mail Survey Data
DS2: Crime Seriousness Data
description: All residents in Ohio.
description: The user guide, codebook, and data collection
 instruments are provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The
 PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be
 accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat
 Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is
provided through the ICPSR Website on the Internet.