Individual and contextual factors in determining attitudes towards crime and punishment

The paper looks at the market for crime focusing on attitudes toward punishment and law obedience as expressed and collected by the fifth round of the European Social Survey in 2010. We find that highly educated people living in less corrupted countries show relatively more tolerant attitudes towards lawlessness and require less severe punishments for crimes. Compared to the previous literature, it confirms a modern view of fighting crime, based on education and civic sense rather than on fines and jail.