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Virtually everyone agrees that the public in the United States harbours punitive views toward offenders. Liberals are troubled by such opinions. Believing that the American criminal justice system punishes too much (Clear, 1994; Currie, 1998), they argue that harsh attitudes reflect the distorted assumption that offenders receive lenient sentences. Citizens are portrayed as being manipulated by the media and by politicians into believing that most crime is violent and most offenders are dangerous – visions that encourage the embrace of ‘get tough’ policies. Conservatives, on the other hand, welcome the punitive views expressed by the public. Believing that the American criminal justice system punishes too little (Bennett, DiIulio and Walters, 1996), they see the public as making the rational assessment that punishments need to be increased. The rash of ‘get tough’ policies in the United States – which has been …