Moving Beyond Punitive Interventions

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12391
• Author: Cecilia Chouhy
• Published date: 01 August 2018
• Date: 01 August 2018

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

VICTIM COMPENSATION AND

WHITE-COLLAR CRIME

Moving Beyond Punitive Interventions

Public Support for Government-Funded Victim

Compensation for White-Collar Crime Victims

Cecilia Chouhy

Florida State University

There is a growing consensus in the United States about the need to reform the

criminal justice system and move away from punishment-based interventions

(Petersilia and Cullen, 2015; Pickett, 2016; Tonry,2014). Efforts have been made

at the federal and state levels to reduce the prison population and to implement rehabili-

tation and reintegrative programs (Clear and Schrantz, 2011; Petersilia and Cullen, 2015;

Pickett, 2016). Importantly, the results of public opinion studies have shown that the

public is broadly supportive of such policies and that people tend to privilege rehabilita-

tion, reintegration, and prevention over mere punishment (Cullen, Skovron, Scott, and

Burton, 1990; Nagin, Piquero, Scott, and Steinberg, 2006; Pickett, 2016; A. R. Piquero

and Steinberg, 2010; Sundt, Cullen, Thielo, and Jonson, 2015; Thielo, Cullen, Cohen,

and Chouhy, 2015). Indeed, scholars have pointed out the “pragmatic” character of the

American public opinion in which the goal of punishment coexists with more progressive

criminal justice goals (Unnever,Cochran, Cullen, and Applegate, 2010). The mounting ev-

idence regarding this public support for alternative criminal justice policies has illuminated

a new facet of Americans’ views and sensibilities toward crime, often obscured in accounts of

public punitiveness, which has been key in sustaining criminal justice reform and in making

it politically feasible (Cullen, Pealer, Fisher, Applegate, and Santana, 2002; Petersilia and

Cullen, 2015).

In short, the findings from public opinion studies can help policy makers in creating

“ideological space” (Jonson, Cullen, and Lux, 2013) that may help sustain key criminal

justice reforms and encourage them to propose nonpunitive initiatives that may otherwise

Direct correspondence to Cecilia Chouhy, Florida State University, Eppes Hall, 112 S. Copleand St., Tallahassee

FL 32306 (e-mail: cchouhy@fsu.edu).

DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12391 C2018 American Society of Criminology 547

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 17 rIssue 3