Public attitudes toward conditional sentencing: Results of a national survey

Public opinion plays an important role in the sentencing process in Canada and elsewhere. This paper reports the first national survey exploring publi c opinion with respect to a new alternative to imprisonment: the conditiona l sentence. This sanction was created by Parliament in 1996 to reduce the u se of incarceration as a sanction. The results of the survey showed widespr ead public ignorance of the new sentencing option. In response to a series of scenarios, public support for conditional sentence ranged from 77% in a case of assault to only 3% for sexual assault. When the optional conditions attached to a conditional sentence order were made salient, public support for the sanction increased dramatically. The implications of these finding s for the sentencing process are discussed.