'Lock them up and throw away the key': an evaluation of the structure of punitive attitudes

Trajtenberg, Nicolás ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4451-3874, Ezquerra, Pablo and Williams, Matthew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2566-6063 2024. 'Lock them up and throw away the key': an evaluation of the structure of punitive attitudes. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 10.1080/13218719.2023.2296476

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Abstract

Criminologists have developed different measures of public attitudes toward punishment. However, most of the research focuses on the explanation of punitive attitudes with scarce evaluation of the structure of the concept. The goal of this article is to conduct a sounder assessment of the measurement properties of punitive attitudes using exploratory and confirmatory analysis including bifactor analysis in a representative sample of 895 individuals. Results suggest that although confirmatory factor analysis shows that punitive attitudes are multidimensional, bifactor analysis provides support for a more unidimensional characterisation of the scale. Results suggest that conclusions regarding the dimensionality of punitive attitudes should be tempered by the type of analysis that is conducted. We finish discussing the implications for future research.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis Group
ISSN:	1321-8719
Funders:	Open Society Foundatio
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	9 April 2024
Date of Acceptance:	29 November 2023
Last Modified:	12 Apr 2024 13:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167850

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