Public opinion about the shadow carceral state

A study of support for criminal justice fees

Bibliographic Data

ID12664236
AuthorsKevin H Wozniak (0000-0002-6542-0095, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, corresponding author), Justin T Pickett (0000-0002-8519-2659, University at Albany, State University of New York), Elizabeth Brown (0000-0003-0825-8199, University of Massachusetts Boston), Elizabeth K Brown (0000-0002-1883-3751, University of Massachusetts Boston)
Year2025
Volume27
Issue4
Pages805-825
Publication date2025-05-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePunishment & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1462-4745 • E-ISSN: 1741-3095
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14624745251336392
OpenAlexW4410245117
LanguageEN
References cited73

Public opinion about legal financial obligations (LFOs) is under-researched, despite the fact that LFOs are one facet of the “shadow carceral state” that interacts with poverty and financial precarity to significantly constrain the lives of people with criminal records. Furthermore, attitudes toward poverty have also been largely overlooked as a potential predictor of punitive attitudes. To begin to fill these knowledge gaps, we analyze data from a national sample of the American population using both experimental and nonexperimental methods. We find that people's support for criminal justice fees, both in general and in the case of a hypothetical offender, is shaped not just by their broader attitudes toward punishment, but also—with notable consistency—by their perceptions of and attitudes toward people who experience poverty. We discuss the implications of these findings for both the sociology of punishment and sociolegal studies

Criminal justice · Criminology · Economic Justice · Mass incarceration · Political science · Politics · Prison · Public opinion · Shadow (psychology · Sociology · State (computer science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Criminal Law and Evidence · Law · Psychology

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