Poverty, Crime Seriousness, and the "Politics of Disgust"

Attitudes toward the poor have implications for policy and services inside and outside the criminal justice system. In this study, participants rated 35 crimes and infractions with regard to their criminal seriousness and the level of disgust that they inspired. Infractions associated with the wealthy were rated as the most serious and disgusting. For items corresponding to poverty, ratings of seriousness were lower than for items corresponding to wealth, yet ratings of disgust were not. Moreover, infractions associated with poverty were rated as more disgusting than they were serious. The relevance of these findings for policy and practice is discussed.