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Social instability and reaction to deviance: A multilevel analysis of the Swiss lifelong detention initiative

The right of initiative offers the opportunity to Swiss citizens to have a direct and prominent influence on penal policy. This research tries to evaluate the effect of social instability on social reaction to deviance using the results of the 2004 Swiss vote on the lifelong detention initiative. I determine that extreme right-wing political orientation (p < 0.001) and xenophobic attitudes such as national preference (p < 0.05) and preference for a closed country (p < 0.05) explain the support for this measure at the individual level. These results can be interpreted according to the Durkheimian view of punishment, which considers this process as an emotional response in order to defend established norms and values. At the macro-social level, social instability (p < 0.05) reinforces the positive relationship between xenophobic attitudes (p < 0.001) and support for lifelong detention. This result supports Young's theory concerning the effect of social instability on social reaction to deviance. Social instability would create a situation in which norms and values are contested. The need to reinforce these norms and values would be fostered by these circumstances.