Law students opinion on punishment - a small experiment

Publié le 28.01.2010

I had had the impression, over the years, that my students had become more cold blooded and tough on crime than they used to be.
French public opinion has always been more "soft".
In the international crime survey they always range in the softest quarter (see Pat Mayhew and John Van Kesteren, ?Cross-national attitudes to punishment?, in M. Hough and Julian V. Roberts (ed.), Changing Attitudes to Punishment. Public Opinion, Crime and Justice, Willan Publishing, 2002, pp. 63-92).
So I thought it would be a good idea to test the question asked in that survey to my students, ie : a 21 year man is arrested for burglary. He has stolen a colour TV from that house he's broken in. It turns out he's already been arrested in the past for burglary. That's all we know. People are asked what is the right sentence : prison (and in that case for how long), fine, suspended sentence, community work and ?other?.

I started with a small group of 5th year criminal law students (only ten of them), in January 2010. They study in Reims law faculty Master II « Droit du contentieux«. I was surprised to see that more than half of them were in favour of prison.
In the above quoted article we learn that only 12% of French people are in favour of prison for the 21 year old repeat burglar ; 69 in favour of community service ; 5% for a suspended sentence ; 8% for a fine ; 2% other sentences ; 4% do not know.
The sentences my students suggested ranged between 2 months and 5 months (versus 14 months with French people who wanted prison).

Yesterday a started a second semester class with 2nd year students - thus in an amphitheatre. I had to try with them BEFORE I taught them how useless prison actually is and before they had a better knowledge of what alternative sentences are m :my class is precisely about « Sentences law » (droit de la peine).

Here is the result of my little experiment
Note that I followed exactly the method used for the ICVS and reported with its results in Pat Mayhew and John van Kesteren?s article.
Under French law many other sentences may have qualified and probably attracted some votes (especially suspended sentence with supervision or community work combined with suspended sentence and supervision). But I was determined to compare the results for my students with the one in the above quoted article.

In favour of prison : 32 students
I was amazed at the length of the prison sentences they came up with 4 in favour of 5 years, 3 ... 3 years, 3... 2 years, 7 one year, 1... 9 months, 1... 8 months, 2... 6 months..., 2.... 3 months.... , 5.... 2 months, 1...; 1 month)

In favour of a fine : 5 students
Two commented on its amount :
- Ten times the price of the television
- 3000 euros

In favour of a suspended sentence without supervision (in French : sursis simple) : 14 students

In favour of community work (in French : travail d'intérêt général) : 39 students

In favour of another sentence : 8 students
They were supposed to propose something specific there. Not all did. I had allowed them, deviating a little here from the ICVS, to come up with whatever they wanted.
So of course some came up with hilarious suggestions for anyone knowing a little about France, along with more serious ideas :
- listen to Didier Barbelivien or Francis Lalane for 48 hours
- watch the complete Pascal Sevran TV series
- no right to possess a television for life
- work for the victim for an amount corresponding to twice the price value of the colour tv
- 6 months in the military or other equivalent measure
- damages plus mandatory work training programme

I am a little relieved to see that so many students are in favour of sentences other than imprisonment (: 66 against ; 32 for). But I was equally amazed at the length of the prison sentences a few of them suggested.
As some specialists have noted, public opinion may be sometimes wrongly considered as tougher than it actually is because of a few elements being extremely tough on crime.
I must bear in mind that these students are only in their second year and only a few of them will eventually work as judges, in he police or probation services. Thus it would be interesting to systematically poll 5th year students, since they are the ones, in France, who try and pass the exams for these professions.
And lastly I shall renew the experiment after my classes ('Sentences law') are finished at the end of April, to see if whatever I taught them has had any influence on their opinion. That would address another subject which specialist of public opinion on crime study, ie whether public opinion on crime can be modified.

January 28, 2010