OBJECTIVE This research examined how the cost of incarceration to the state and type of offense affect public support for different levels of sentence reductions (10%, 25%, 50%) via policies called "second chance" mechanisms that reduce incarcerated populations as well as whether political ideology or affiliation predicts such support. HYPOTHESES (a) Across different levels of sentence reductions, participants were expected to show significantly decreased support for the use of second chance mechanisms for violent compared with nonviolent crimes (b) but also to show significantly increased support when exposed to cost information to the state, compared with not receiving that information. (c) Political ideology and affiliation were expected to moderate support across different levels of sentence reductions. METHOD A 6 (offense type) × 2 (cost of incarceration to the state) experiment with a national sample of the U.S. public (N = 419) was used to assess support for using second chance mechanisms to achieve different levels of sentence reductions. Moderation analyses assessed how participants' political ideology and affiliation impacted support. RESULTS Participants did not show significantly less support for the use of second chance mechanisms to achieve sentence reductions for violent compared with nonviolent crimes. Providing cost information did not significantly impact support for any level of sentence reduction. Across sentence reductions, political ideology significantly moderated support for the use of second chance mechanisms; being more conservative predicted decreased support for a 10% sentence reduction when cost information was also provided. CONCLUSIONS Crime type and political ideology, but not fiscal costs, appear in some way to bear on public support for sentence reductions via second chance mechanisms. Overall, evidence suggests that public support for the use of second chance mechanisms presents an opportunity to advance reforms that reduce incarcerated populations and enhance the public's perceptions of the justice system's legitimacy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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政策中的政治：对公众对通过第二次机会机制减刑的看法的实验性检查。


目的 本研究通过称为“第二次机会”机制的政策来减少被监禁人口，以及政治意识形态或隶属关系是否预测了这种支持，调查了国家监禁的成本和犯罪类型如何影响公众对不同程度减刑的支持（10%、25%、50%），以及政治意识形态或隶属关系是否预测这种支持。假设 （a） 在不同级别的减刑中，与非暴力犯罪相比，参与者对使用第二次机会机制的支持率会显著降低 （b），但与未收到该信息相比，当接触到国家的成本信息时，也会表现出显著增加的支持率。（c） 预计政治意识形态和派别将缓和不同级别的减刑支持率。方法 A 6（犯罪类型）× 2（国家监禁成本）实验，对美国公众 （N = 419） 的全国样本进行，用于评估对使用第二次机会机制实现不同程度减刑的支持。审核分析评估了参与者的政治意识形态和隶属关系如何影响支持率。结果 与非暴力犯罪相比，参与者对使用第二次机会机制实现暴力减刑的支持率并没有显著降低。提供成本信息并未显著影响对任何程度减刑的支持。在减刑中，政治意识形态显着缓和了对使用第二次机会机制的支持;当还提供了成本信息时，更保守的预测降低了对减刑 10% 的支持率。 结论 犯罪类型和政治意识形态，而不是财政成本，似乎在某种程度上影响了公众对通过第二次机会机制减刑的支持。总体而言，有证据表明，公众对使用第二次机会机制的支持为推进改革提供了机会，以减少被监禁人口并提高公众对司法系统合法性的看法。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2025 APA，保留所有权利）。