Randomized trial examines public attitudes towards prison reform, revealing influences of rehabilitation beliefs and racial resentment.
Key Points
This research investigates the factors influencing public attitudes towards prison reform, particularly focusing on beliefs about rehabilitation and moral character.
1,110 participants recruited from Prolific Academic were randomly assigned to one of seven conditions.
Participants completed measures assessing their attitudes towards prison reform, moral character, rehabilitation capacity, and perceived justice restoration.
Data was analyzed to explore the relationships between reform attitudes, rehabilitation beliefs, and racial resentment.
Higher beliefs in prisoners' moral character led to increased views of their rehabilitation capacity, predicting greater support for prison reform.
Racial resentment and beliefs about rehabilitation were stronger predictors of reform support than retributive justice framing.
Short messaging interventions had minimal effect on shaping reform attitudes, indicating a need for longer-term perception changes.