Comparing the determinants of punitiveness in Japan and Costa Rica

ABSTRACT

While there is a growing interest in the comparative analysis of individuals’ punitiveness, research comparing its determinants across societies remains scarce. This study aims to address this gap by examining the differences and similarities in the determinants of individual punitiveness in two societies with differing characteristics: Japan and Costa Rica. Drawing on a model based on the (late) modernisation perspective, we conducted multi-group structural equation modelling utilising data from 400 Japanese and 413 Costa Rican participants. The results revealed that fear of crime consistently predicts punitiveness in both countries. Although the direct and total indirect effects of other variables, such as economic anxiety, identity anxiety, social dominance orientation, and xenophobic attitudes, were significant, their effects varied across countries. In conclusion, this study not only validated the generalisability of the existing model but also highlighted suggestive national differences in the determinants of individual punitiveness in Japan and Costa Rica.

KEYWORDS:

• Punitiveness
• late modernity
• cultural comparison
• Japan
• Costa Rica

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2023.2277722

Notes

1. We acknowledge that these grounds, while they may justify the inclusion of Japan and Costa Rica as comparative targets, do not fully justify the exclusion of other countries with similar characteristics. Nevertheless, given that international comparative research in criminology remain scarce and empirical data that can be utilised for theory construction is required, setting too high a standard for selection of comparative targets could hinder the publication of valuable data, and make theory construction more challenging. Therefore, although the grounds for the selection in this study may not be perfect, they should be sufficient at this stage, when comparative research is not fully advanced.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by JPSP KAKENHI (22K03022).

Notes on contributors

Tomoya Mukai

Tomoya Mukai, Ph.D., J.D., is a senior lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Fukuyama University. His research focuses on public responses to crime, especially the determinants of punitiveness. He is interested in employing multidisciplinary methods, especially in psychology and law, as tools to investigate public attitudes and how they should be incorporated into practice.

Daniel Garcia Ramirez

Daniel Garcia Ramirez is a Ph.D. student at Hiroshima University’s Law and Politics Program. His main areas of interest are punitive institutions, institutional treatment during imprisonment, and social reinsertion after imprisonment. He is a recipient of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology scholarship programme offered by the Japanese government and is currently conducting comparative research between the Costa Rican and Japanese penitentiary systems.

Yuma Matsuki

Yuma Matsuki, Ph.D, is an assistant professor at the Department of Psychology, Chubu University. His research focuses on attitudinal change and intergroup relations. He is particularly interested in how looking at discussions about social problems in online spaces affects the attitudes of viewers.

Yuji Takenaka

Yuji Takenaka, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Department of Contemporary Social Studies, Setsunan University. His research focuses on desistance from crime and delinquency and volunteer activities for offender rehabilitation. He conducts research using various methodologies but is particularly good at theoretical research.

Sho Sagara

Sho Sagara, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Department of Social Work and Child Science, Saitama Prefectural University. His research focuses on desistance from crime and delinquency and recovery from substance use disorder. He is interested in qualitative methods, especially the narrative approach.

Eiichiro Watamura

Eiichiro Watamura, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University. His research focuses on the sentencing decisions of professional and lay judges. He has served as a reviewer for journals from Japan and abroad related to forensic psychology and has conducted educational activities for legal professionals and the general public.