This thesis conducted a secondary quantitative analysis to test predictors of punitive attitudes about the best overall and youth crime reduction methods in Saskatchewan, and to examine an integrated perspective developed from Bourdieu’s concept of habitus. My research questions were twofold: 1) What are the valid predictors of punitive attitudes toward overall and youth crime respectively? 2) Is there a difference in punitive attitudes between overall crime and youth crime? For my research methodology, I relied on a secondary quantitative analysis of data from Taking the Pulse of Saskatchewan 2012, a survey conducted by the Social Sciences Research Laboratories (SSRL) of the University of Saskatchewan. The data used in this thesis was taken from Section (F), Crime and Public Safety in Saskatchewan, and Section (H), demographics. I examined three types of predictors: demographics, fear of crime, and perception of crime trends. The demographic variables were gender, age, education, marital status, race, and total annual household income. The relationship between these predictors and the public’s punitive attitudes were first examined with a bivariate analysis. Then logistic regression analysis was used to determine the effect of a selected predictor of punitive attitudes when other predictors were controlled. This thesis reported three major findings. First, the mutual predictors of punitive attitudes towards overall and youth crime are age, education, marital status, and perceived crime trends, while gender is significant only for overall crime, and race is significant only for youth crime when other variables are controlled. Secondly, with regard to the magnitude of influence, the variables perceived crime trends and education are the strongest predictors among all the predictors considered in this study, but any single predictor only has small impact on punitive attitudes. Finally, respondents are generally less punitive towards youth crime than overall crime. This thesis revealed that an integrated Bourdieuian perspective used in this study helped link the predictors in a more explanatory manner, and contributed to a more critical and contextual understanding of punitive attitudes. The empirical results reported in this thesis produced knowledge about punitive attitudes in Saskatchewan, and contributed to the literature on predictors of such attitudes.

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The aim of this study is to examine the Swedish population's attitudes about the causes behind violence in society, and how these attitudes influence their position on criminal policy proposals. By analyzing underlying dimensions of attitudes towards the causes of violence and how political ideology, political interest, media consumption and social capital relate to these dimensions, and their impact on criminal policy proposals. The findings show that ideology, and partly social capital, play a significant role in shaping attitudes towards the cause behind violence in society. Individuals on the right-wing tend to explain violence with immigrants, whereas those on the left-wing tend to explain it with social vulnerability and media culture. Additionally, people with higher social capital tend to focus on social issues rather than blaming media culture or immigration. The results also show that those who consider media culture and immigration to be important factors for the causes behind violence in society, tend to support criminal policy proposals such as limiting democracy to deal with crime, toughener punishment for gang crime and deporting non-citizens convicted of violent crimes. Those who associate social vulnerability and home, and education with the cause of violence, also tend to have negative attitudes towards punitive policy proposals. These insights deepen the understanding of how different factors shape people's perceptions of violence and criminal policy in Sweden.