Analysis of Public Opinion’s Punitiveness regarding Public ‎Punishments: Test of Marshall Hypothesis

Armaghan Mohmedi¹ Mojtaba Lashgari²

1) MA Graduated from Sociology at University of Alzahra
2) MA Student of Sociology at University of Tehran

Publication : 2nd International Conference of Modern Approach in Humanities(2mahconf.com)
Abstract :
In the past several decades, Iran has not only experienced a fast growing ‎rate of public punishments such as hanging, flogging, and public ‎humiliation, but also these type of punishments have been imposed harsher ‎comparing to the past. In this research, we studied a sample population of ‎‎171 people selected by cluster sampling technique to investigate the ‎consequences of public punishments. On one hand, they were asked about ‎the awareness of public punishments as an independent variable. On the ‎other hand, the assessment of punishment s consequences as a dependent ‎variable was studied. The results confirm Marshall’s Hypothesis, ‎increasing public awareness of public punishments raises people’s negative ‎assessment about the consequences of those public punishments. ‎Moreover, socio-economic variables such as sex, SES, place of residence ‎and marital status have significant influence on the dependent variable.‎
Keywords : Formal social controls Punishment Assessment Public ‎Opinion Marshall Hypothesis