Attitudes towards prisoners amongst University of Malta students

Abstract

According to Allport’s (1935) definition, attitudes influence one’s behaviour towards the attitude object which in the case of this study, is the prisoner. This research aims to explore whether the previously documented negative attitudes towards prisoners, prevail amongst University students using Melvin et al.’s (1985) Attitude towards Prisoners scale. Statistical tests were used to measure attitudes and to explore how these vary in relation to a number of variables namely: age, gender, locality, faculty and contact with prisoners. The results show that the general attitude of University students towards prisoners is a positive one and also indicate the significant effect of the locality variable. This suggests that students may not fall for the stereotypes and stigma surrounding prisoners and are more likely to participate in initiatives aimed at making prisoners’ rehabilitation and eventual reintegration more successful.