Attitudes of students in Serbia towards punitiveness: The impact of gender and victimization experience

Abstract

In 2018 Serbia took part in the Comparative Study of Student Attitudes towards Punitiveness and Gay and Lesbian Issues that encompasses ten European and non-European countries. The data is collected with the use of a standardized questionnaire, while respondents are students who could work in the criminal justice system. In Serbia, the survey was conducted on a sample of 188 students of the third and fourth year of the undergraduate studies at one state and one private university in Belgrade, including three faculties: Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Philosophy Department of Psychology, and Faculty of Law. Along with other questions, the questionnaire consisted of three scales of attitudes: towards lesbians and gay men, crime, and criminal sanctions. The paper aims at presenting a part of the survey findings concerning students’ penal attitudes. The paper will start with a brief overview of the research methodology. This will be followed with presenting findings of students’ penal attitudes and contributing factors, particularly focusing on gender and victimization experience. Additionally, we will analyse if more punitive attitudes are accompanied with more negative attitudes towards lesbians and gay men. In the final part, we will point out to main conclusions and recommendations.