ABSTRACT

Public attitudes play a pivotal and controversial role in the administration of justice, but nowhere is the influence of these attitudes more apparent than in the area of penal policy and judicial practice. The views of the public have helped to determine the shape of sentencing and parole reform in most western nations over the past 30 years. Many examples of this influence exist, including the “Three Strikes” sentencing laws in the US, similar legislation for burglary, drug dealing, and serious crimes of violence in the United Kingdom, and mandatory firearms sentences in Canada. As well, adverse public reaction has been a factor in the movement to abolish parole in the US and, more recently, Canada (Greenspan, Matheson, & Davis, 1998).