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2000 Texas Crime Poll Dennis
R. Longmire, Ph.D., Director (936) 294-1660 e-mail:
ICC_DRL@SHSU.EDU |
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Recommended citation:
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Preface This is the 33rd statewide survey completed under the auspices of Sam Houston State University’s Criminal Justice Center. The Criminal Justice Center was established by the Texas Legislature in 1963 when it passed House Resolution 469. This resolution called for Sam Houston State University to work in collaboration with the Texas Department of Corrections to establish a program of excellence with four objectives:
This survey and all activities conducted under the auspices of the Criminal Justice Center’s Survey Research Program help to fulfill the third of these objectives by reporting information on public opinions regarding criminal justice and related issues. The first Texas Crime Poll was completed in 1977 and has been repeated annually since that date. Copies of the Final Reports for each of these surveys is available for review at the Survey Research Program's homepage. The general purpose of these surveys is to provide legislators, public officials, and Texas residents with a reliable source of information about citizens’ opinions and attitudes concerning crime and criminal justice related topics. The 2000 Texas Crime Poll included a series of questions designed to ascertain how Texans' attitudes about crime and justice have changed since 1994. The data included in the 1994 Texas Crime Poll (Longmire, West, and Sims 1994) reflect Texans' attitudes about the criminal justice system in the final year of Governor Ann Richards. While the earlier survey focused on a number of issues not included in this year's interviews, part of the 2000 survey instrument replicated several of the questions included in the 1994 survey. Specific questions designed to measure how concerned people are about crime, how confident they are in the criminal justice system, how supportive they are of several possible solutions to the prison overcrowding problem, and how supportive they are of the death penalty were replicated. Comparing the differences in attitudes expressed between these two periods of time offers a rough estimation of how Texans' attitudes have changed during the tenure of the current administration. In addition to the partial replication of
the 1994 survey, the 2000 study focused on several issues that are
particularly salient today. These issues include:
The Survey Research Program’s staff appreciates the continued support and encouragement from Dean Richard H. Ward. The staff would also like to thank Ms. Kay Billingsley for her editorial contribution to the project. All opinions, interpretations, and any errors included in this report are the sole responsibility of the author. |
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CITIZENS' CONCERNS ABOUT CRIME
CONFIDENCE IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND ITS COMPONENTS
SUPPORT FOR SOLUTIONS TO PRISON OVERCROWDING
SUPPORT FOR THE DEATH PENALTY
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The 2000 Texas Crime Poll involved a statewide telephone survey designed and commissioned by the Criminal Justice Center’s Survey Research Program at Sam Houston State University. In that survey, conducted by Texas A&M University’s Public Policy Research Institute (PPRI) on behalf of Sam Houston State University in September and October of 2000, a total of 403 Texans were queried about their attitudes toward a wide variety of crime and criminal justice issues. The questionnaire used can be viewed at 2000 SURVEY INSTRUMENT, and a technical report showing the response rates and other pertinent information can be viewed at 2000 TECHNICAL REPORT. It is important to note that the data in this year’s survey were collected through the use of telephone interviews while the 1994 data were collected through a "postal survey." The 1994 survey also included many more items than those used in 2000, and the order in which the issues were presented to the respondents was not perfectly replicated. Appropriate consideration of these issues should be taken into account when looking at differences from one year to the other. The data presented in Table 1.1 show that the 2000 survey included almost half the number of respondents included in the 1994 survey. While this reduction appears significant, there is actually no difference in the margin of error (+/- 4.5% for each year). The current sample was selected to ensure that it reflects the most current census estimates of Texans along the dimensions of gender and race/ethnicity. The 2000 survey also includes fewer respondents between the ages of 18 - 24 than were included in the 1994 sample and more respondents over the age of 60.
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In both 1994 and 2000, the survey began with three "open ended questions" designed to allow the respondents to freely identify what they thought presented the "most important problem" to their local community, the state, and the nation. Tables 2.1 - 2.3 show the distribution of responses in both 1994 and 2000 along with a column showing how much change there has been in the nature of these concerns over the past six years.
Question:
"First of all, what do you consider to be the single most
Table 2.2 Most important problem facing Texans at the state level: 1994 vs. 2000 Question:
"What do you consider to be the single most
Question:
"What do you consider to be the single most
At all three levels, today's Texans are overwhelmingly less concerned with the problems of crime and drugs than they were in 1994 but are considerably more concerned about education. In 1994, at the local, state, and national levels over a half of the respondents mentioned either crime or drugs as the most serious problem facing them. In 2000, crime or drugs were mentioned by only 12% of the respondents when focusing at the national level with 16% and 26% mentioning them as problems at the state and local levels, respectively. At the local level, concern about gangs also dropped considerably over the past six years. At all three levels, concern about declining family values was also mentioned considerably more frequently this year than in 1994. At all three levels, there are more responses coded into the "other" category for the 2000 survey than there were in the 1994 survey. Accordingly, some effort to understand the nature of these responses is important. This year's responses coded as "other" at the local community level included such "local problems" as this summer's water shortage (5%) and traffic and transportation related concerns (3%) along with a variety of other concerns mentioned by fewer than one percent of the respondents. In 1994, "other" responses to this question included responses such as "potholes, too much noise, and inattentive parents." At the state level, this year's "other" problems included frequent reference to health care (4%) and the drought (3%). Health care (4%) and foreign policy (5%) were the most frequent "other" problems mentioned at the national level. Although crime
is not perceived to be as serious a problem today as it was in 1994, Texans
continue to report that they are concerned about the possibility of becoming
a crime victim. A special study is currently underway focusing on these
concerns. When complete, the results of this study will be available for
review at the Survey
Research Program's homepage |
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The second
section of the 2000 Texas Crime Poll asked respondents to evaluate each of
the different components of the criminal justice system. The same question
was included in the 1994 survey enabling a comparison to be made of the
citizenry's satisfaction with each of the components across the two time
periods. In both years, respondents were asked to evaluate each component of
the criminal justice system as either "poor," "below average,"
"adequate," above average," or "excellent." These
responses were coded so that summing the responses to all eight components of
the system would provide a measure (ranging from 5 to 80) of each
respondent's "overall level of satisfaction" with the state's
criminal justice system. Tables 3.1 and 3.2 show the distribution of
responses to these questions and the average (mean) "overall
satisfaction score" for different demographic groups in Texas for both
1994 and 2000. Table 3.1 Satisfaction with components of the criminal justice system 1994 vs. 2000 Question:
"How would you rate the job being done by the following agencies
(insert each agency)?"
The data in Table 3.1 show that Texans are considerably more satisfied with each of the components of the criminal justice system today than they were in 1994. When evaluating each of the components of the criminal justice system, respondents to the 2000 survey were more likely to evaluate them as either "above average" or "excellent." For example, in 1994, 32 percent of Texans considered their local police to be either excellent or above average while in 2000 this figure increased to 47 percent. This pattern repeats itself when looking at each component of the system with the greatest increase in satisfaction in the performance of local law enforcement, the DPS, and the state prison system. The smallest increases in satisfaction occurred when people reflected on the county probation departments and the state parole system. Table 3.2 shows the mean levels of confidence Texans have in the criminal justice system at large. These figures show that people are considerably more satisfied with the delivery of criminal justice services today than they were in 1994. The total sample shows an increase of almost four points over the two time periods, and all of the demographic sub-groups of Texans reported higher levels of overall satisfaction with the system. In both years, Blacks and African Americans reported considerably lower levels of satisfaction than did any other demographic sub-group. Blacks and African Americans also report the lowest levels of increase in their satisfaction in 2000. Males, whites, respondents 62 years of age or older, and respondents with higher levels of education report the largest levels of increased satisfaction in the overall delivery of criminal justice services. These differences are also depicted in the Figure 3.1.
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