CONSERVATIVE PROTESTANTISM AND THE PERCEIVED WRONGFULNESS OF CRIMES -A RESEARCH NOTE

This research addresses the relationship between conservative Protesta ntism and the perceived wrongfulness of crimes. In a recent study, War r (1989) identified ''nondiscriminators''-people who perceived a wide range of crimes to be equally morally wrong. Although lacking measures of religion, Warr hypothesized, based on their written comments, that the respondents used religious beliefs to assess wrongfulness. Since Protestant theology tends to view morality categorically, with no grad ations between the extremes, those individuals who most strongly adher e to this doctrine may be the nondiscriminators. This study tests and finds strong support for this hypothesis, which has important implicat ions for the recent shift toward increased punitiveness in sentencing, research concerning public perceptions of crime, and studies of relig ion.