LA EVALUACION DE LA PENALIZACIÓN AL DELINCUENTE

• Main Author: Diego Becerril Ruiz
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad de Almería 2014-12-01
• Series: Revista Internacional de Doctrina y Jurisprudencia
• Subjects: Public opinion; Perception of criminal severity; punitivism
• Online Access: https://w3.ual.es/revistas/RevistaInternacionaldeDoctrinayJurisprudencia/pdfs/2014-12/LA%20EVALUACION%20DE%20LA%20PENALIZACI%C3%93N%20AL%20DELINCUENTE.pdf

The social perception of the penalization of the crimes is a key to understanding the social dynamics and its relation to criminal proceedings element. It is used as a justification for criminal expansionist policy, always founded on worry or alarm. The paper analyzes the evolution of the sufficiency of punishment during the last 35 years (1980-2014) and the assignment of responsibilities. Next to the description and evolution has built a favorable profile people toughen punishment. The data source are secondary, surveys conducted by the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS), the Eurobarometer and the European Social Survey. The scope is national. The main conclusions are that the evaluation of justice as benevolent and fondness for harsher punishments draw a trend of steady increase, unless exceptional falls. This attitude is more pronounced among people with lower level of education, women, elderly, ideologically right, lower income and Catholics. The responsibility of insufficient punishment is mainly ascribed to the entire system, except the police, although the structural elements (judicial organization laws) more than functional (judges, prosecutors).