Factor A: Liberal System Supporters
Factor A is defined by the Q-sorts of two legislators that reacted
the most strongly to evil person bias and evil person policy statements.
They disagreed with six of the nine items. They rejected the basic core of
the evil person bias position by strongly rejecting the notion that crime is
committed by is committed by those with a certain ethnic or social class
background. (Statement 24). They also reject the contention that people
today lack the necessary self-discipline, responsibility, and moral
conscience to obey the criminal law.(Statement 8). In addition, Factor A
strongly discounts the evil person bias notions that the criminal justice
system releases too many criminals because it is too liberal and too lax
(Statements 3 and 34). Factor A does believe that “everyone, regardless
of education, class or upbringing, has the potential to become a criminal.”
Factor A is mixed in its strong reactions to four evil person policy
statements. It disagrees with the proposition that the only solution to
crime is punishment with a stress on harsh punishment that includes the
use of the death penalty (Statements 10 and 25). The factor does support
two evil person policies, however. They believe that “Lawbreakers should
be subject to fair but firm penalties based primarily on the protection of
society, but taking into account as well the future of the offender”
(Statement 27). They also support the proposition that the first duty of
government is to protect its citizens by incarcerating the hard-core,
chronic offenders.
Convention