These data were collected as part of a pilot study: testing the material prior to the CentERdata study on public support for vigilantism. The theoretical framework of this study is Just World Theory (Lerner, 1980). I collected the data at the Free University, during various lectures. Respondents were presented with 2 vignettes that were formatted as news articles from the website www.nu.nl. The first vignette concerned the precipitating crime; the second one regarded the sentence received by the perpetrator of the precipitating crime, as well as the act of vigilantism. Each vignette was followed by a number of questions. The first vignette consisted of 2 versions in the pilot, based on the type of precipitating crime: traffic offense or traffic aggression. The act of vigilantism in all cases consisted of violence against the alleged offender of the precipitating crime. The sentence of the perpetrator of the precipitating crime varied between acquittal, a lenient, normal or severe sentence. This resulted in 8 different conditions: 2 precipitating crimes x 4 sentencing levels. I tested 6 of these in the pilot (B03003), with 2 extra conditions in which I tested whether including a picture in the first vignette affected people's response. The total number of versions in this study is thus 8 (see attachments). The questionnaire consists of 21 items about the precipitating crime (vignette 1), 26 items about vigilantism (vignette 2), 10 items about belief in a just world for others, 6 items about vigilantism in general, and a number of questions about demographics and the readability of the vignettes (nu.nl articles). To study the causes of public support for vigilantism. There are two main hypotheses: 1. Confidence hypothesis: support for vigilantism is caused by a low/lack of confidence in the criminal justice system, 2. Situation hypothesis: support for vigilantism depends on situational characteristics of vigilantism itself. Specific hypotheses for this particular study (can be separated per type of support): a) support for vigilantism against sex offender is the highest; it is lowest for vigilantism against the aggressive car driver b) support for vigilantism after a heavy sentence is lowest; it is highest after acquittal c) the higher BJW-O, the more support d) the more general support for vigilantism, the more support for vigilantism in the vignette.

Data available in consultation with NSCR. Please contact the datamanager [datamanagement@nscr.nl]