Development of Attitudes towards Criminal Justice Scale

Abstract

Although attitudes towards criminal justice have been broadly studied since the 1970s, it has been pointed out that diversity in scales and constructs generates great confusion in interpreting the results yielded by studies. Thus, the present study aims to create a scale that measures attitudes towards criminal justice with high reliability and validity. In particular, we reviewed existing arguments, paying special attention to those about criminalization, to identify six elements to be included in the scale. This was followed by a question- naire survey research. Based on a confirmatory factor analysis, we found that attitudes towards the criminal justice scale consist of four factors, showing high reliability and validity. Further implications are discussed.