Social Factors Associated with Perceived Seriousness of Crime Examining Sample Students at Tarbiat Moallem University of Tehran

The study of public attitudes on crime and punishment has a relatively long record in Western societies. The main goal of these studies is to understand general attitudes toward crimes and punishments so that to create more harmony between public opinion and criminal law and penal system. Nevertheless, these studies have rarely been conducted in Iran. The main purpose of this paper is to study the attitudes of respondents towardsthe seriousness of crimes and punishments and to examine social and demographic factors relating to perceived seriousness of crime. Using the survey method, a self-constructed questionnaire was applied for data collection from a sample of 320 students of Tarbiat Moallem University of Tehran in 2010. The results infer that some factors such as religiosity, development and urbanization of residential area of respondents, years of being in university, and gender are associated with seriousness of crime, among which religiosity has the strongest relationship. Unlike other mentioned variables, religiosity has a negative relationship with seriousness of crime. The findings are explained based on the implications of Durkheim's theory of crime as well as those of conflict and constructionist theories.