Willingness to associate with ex prisoners: a survey of the student population

Criminological research shows that knowing someone who has been imprisoned often leads to more positive attitudes toward former prisoners. Yet it remains unclear whether this effect varies by crime type or by factors such as fear of victimization, perceived local crime levels, and personal victimization. Using survey data from 380 conveniently recruited university students in Azerbaijan, this study found that willingness to associate with former prisoners was lowest for those convicted of murder (M = 1.45, SD = .571), compared with theft (M = 1.33, SD = .494) and bribery (M = 1.46, SD = .624). Having a family member who is an ex‑prisoner significantly increased willingness to associate with someone convicted of murder, but not theft. Victimization was associated with greater willingness to associate across all crime types. Higher perceived neighborhood crime predicted greater willingness to associate with murder convicts, while fear of victimization predicted the same outcome for theft. Moderating effect was observed for corruption cases only, as having knowledge of a prisoner apparently removes the effect of perceived crime rate in a neighborhood, as all such students expressed similar attitudes.