Abstract
Previous studies on causal attribution to offenders have been based on either the dualistic approach, which distinguishes between internal and external or attributive and situational attributions, or the multidimensional approach, which divides the subject of causal attribution comprehensively. As these approaches have both advantages and disadvantages, it is desirable to accumulate findings based on both approaches. However, studies using the multidimensional approach for offenders in general rather than specific offenders are lacking in Japan. Therefore, based on previous studies that adopted the multidimensional approach, this study aims to examine the factor structure of causal attribution to offenders. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the data of 191 respondents. Because the five- and three-factor solutions were adoptable, the analysis proceeded according to these solutions. However, the factors extracted in either solution were challenging to interpret. This result may be because many respondents did not make causal attributions in a manner consistent with the causes of crime as assumed in criminology. Therefore, it was suggested that in future research and policy making, it is not necessarily beneficial to focus on the causes of crime based on criminological theory.
