What the general public thinks about crime and punishment is a vexed question. In an effort to bring systematic data to bear on this question, I have assembled the largest compilation of aggregated survey data on attitudes to crime and punishment in England and Wales to date. The dataset contains 1,190 question-year pairs, which track popular attitudes across four areas: (i) Crime concern 1965-2023, (ii) Punitiveness 1981-2023, (iii) Support for the death penalty 1962-2023, and (iv) Prioritisation of crime/law-and-order as a social issue 1973-2023. For example, in 2014, 58% of respondents to the British Election Studies Internet Panel thought that the level of crime was increasing. By 2019, this number had increased to 83%, and by 2023 it had fallen back to 77%. For 16-24 year olds, the numbers are 38%, 69% and 65%. Harmonised latent trends for each area can be derived from the aggregated survey data using Stimson’s (2018) Dyad Ratio Algorithm for different demographic groups using the R script below.
This deposit contains aggregate survey responses for four different dimensions of public opinion about crime and punishment: - Crime concern = perceptions of the crime rate and the degree to which the public is fearful or concerned about crime - Punitiveness = the degree to which public opinion supports being tougher on crime or supports less punitive and more rehabilitative policies - Prioritisation of crime as a social issue = the degree to which people prioritise crime as the number one most urgent or important issue facing the country - Support for the death penalty = support for capital punishment in any situation 1190 question-year pairs were collected from the following sources: - British Election Study (1963-2023, 15 post-election cross-sectional studies and 9 panel studies): - British Social Attitude Survey (1983-2021): NatCen Social Research (2023) British Social Attitudes Survey. [data series]. 3rd Release. UK Data Service. SN: 200006. - British Crime Survey / Crime Survey for England and Wales (1982-2021): Office for National Statistics (2021) Crime Survey for England and Wales. [data series]. 3rd Release. UK Data Service. SN: 200009. - YouGov Crime Trackers (2019-2023): - YouGov MII Tracker (2011-2023): - Ipsos Issues Tracker (1974-2023): - A. King, R. Wybrow, A. Gallup. (2001) British Political Opinion 1937-2000: The Gallup Polls. London: Portico's Publishing. - G. Gallup (ed.) (1976) The Gallup International Public Opinion Polls: Great Britain 1937-1975. New York: Random House. - W. Jennings, J. Kenny, A. Roescu, S. Smedley, N. Or, K. Weldon, P. Enns, K. Norek, J. Riggs (2022) UK Gallup Poll collection, 1956-1991. Ithaca, NY: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. In each case, I calculate the weighted average response to each question per year for different demographic subgroups. For example, in 2014, 58% of respondents to the British Election Studies Internet Panel thought that the level of crime was increasing. By 2019, this number had increased to 83%, and by 2023 it had fallen back to 77%. For 16-24 year olds, the numbers are 38%, 69% and 65%.
