Punitiveness and Perceptions of Criminality

• Author: Michael Costelloe,Christine Arazan,Madeline Stenger
• Published date: 01 October 2021
• Date: 01 October 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368718797168
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Punitiveness and Perceptions

of Criminality: An

Examination of Attitudes

Toward Immigrant Offenders

Michael Costelloe

1

, Madeline Stenger

2

,

and Christine Arazan

1

Abstract

This study examines the effect of the residency status (undocumented immigrant,

refugee, or U.S. citizen) and the country of origin-ethnicity of an offender on per-

ceptions of criminality and on the level of punitiveness expressed by a random sample

of college seniors attending a southwestern university. A factorial survey design was

administered asking respondents to apply a punishment (incarceration or no incar-

ceration) and to rate the level of criminality of a hypothetical offender. Results showed

that while there were no differences in perceptions of the degree of criminality across

the various offenders, there was significant variation in the severity of punishments

meted out by the respondent based on offender country of origin-ethnicity. More-

over, an interaction effect was discovered, whereby the effect of residency status on

punitiveness was dependent on the country of origin-ethnicity of the offender. It

appears, then, that punitiveness is not uniformly directed toward all immigrants but is

reserved for ethnic “others.”

Keywords

punitive attitudes, residency status, country of origin, ethnicity, factorial survey

The United State s has a long and well -documented his tory of linking imm igration and

crime, and today is no different. Whether based on the purported gang violence and

narcotics trafficking of Mexicans or the terrorist threat posed by Middle Eastern

1

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

2

University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

Corresponding Author:

Madeline Stenger, University of Delaware, 18 Amstel Ave, Newark, DE, USA.

Email: mstenger@udel.edu

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368718797168

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2021, Vol. 11(4) 363\–383

Muslims, Republicans and Democrats alike have promoted and developedpolicies that

are founded on the assumption of immigrant criminality. For example, Democratic

President Bill Clinton signed into law the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant

ResponsibilityAct, a law which drastically expandedthe criminalization of immigration

(Macı´as-Rojas, 2018). In promoting similar polices, the current Republican President,

Donald Trump, is clear where he stands, arguing “Mexico’s leaders have been taking

advantage of the UnitedStates by using illegal immigration to export crime and poverty

in their own country” (Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., 2015, p.1).

The portrayal of Mexican and Middle Eastern immigrants as dangerous others is not

unique to elected political officials. Political pundits, mainstream news sources, and

social media also help to perpetuate such characterizations, which in turncolor popular

opinion. Whether it is video images of immigrants teeming over the border in the dead

of night or casual references to the undocumentedstatus or Middle Eastern background

of a violent cri minal, such depic tions are not only likely to be see n in millions of

households, but, if salient enough, will go on to be shared with millions more through

social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. Such depictions, thus, portray

Mexicans and citizens of Muslim-majority nations as representing an inherent threat to

the safety of U.S. citizens, which, in turn, may provide those who are receptive to such

overgeneralizations with implicit or explicit justifications for treating these individuals

as potentially dangerous and deserving of greater punishment.

The question then arises about the extent to which sentiments equating immigration

with criminality resonate with the public and whether such sentiments increase puni-

tiveness dire cted at these pop ulations. Spe cifically, do es the public perc eive undocu-

mented individuals and/or refugees as more criminal than their citizen counterparts?

Moreover, if these attitudes are relatively common, do they influence individual puni-

tivenesstoward offenderswho are not in this countrylegally or who hail fromthe Middle

East? This article speculates that with the heightened scrutiny levied upon these groups,

it is reasonable to expect that all else equal, offenders perceived as residing in the United

States illegally and those from Mexico (as well as ot her Latin American countries) and

the Middle East will experience greater punitivity. Specifically, the current study

examines whether the residency status and country of origin-ethnicity of an offender

serve as salient predictors of punitiveness and/or perceived criminality directed toward

hypothetical offenders by undergraduate students at a rural, southwestern university. In

order to guard against the influence of social desirability and bias, we rely on a factorial

experimental design in which participants are blind to the purpose of the study.

1

Research on Public Views of the Punishment of

Undocumented Offenders

To our knowledge, only two previous studies have examined public views on the

criminal punishment of nonimmigration offenses committed by undocumented immi-

grants (Espinoza,Willis-Esqueda, Toscano,& Coons, 2015; Minero & Espinoza,2016).

Espinoza, Willis-Esqueda, Toscano, and Coons (2015) conducted a study using Eur-

opean Americanvenire jurors (n¼320) using a mock caseinvolving a murder trial with

364

Race and Justice 11(4)