Public Attitudes Toward Compassionate Release of Older People From Prison: Findings From a National Survey in Australia

ABSTRACT The rapid increase in older people in prison populations worldwide is generating significant health, cost, and human rights pressures on custodial systems. Compassionate release for older, frail inmates is a potentially effective response, yet little is known about public support for this approach. To examine this, an online survey of 957 Australian adults (mean age = 48; range 18–99) was conducted. Generally, positive but nuanced attitudes were found, with responses tending toward compassion, tempered by concerns about safety and specific release conditions. Cluster analysis revealed three groups of respondents: one more supportive of release and motivated by humanitarian and cost‐efficiency arguments (51.6%), another generally supportive of release, but marked by elevated safety worries (21.6%), and a final group who were comparatively less supportive of release or care alternatives with moderate security concerns (26.8%). The co‐occurrence of humanitarian, pragmatic, and retributive viewpoints within and across the clusters underlies the complexity of public attitudes toward compassionate release and highlights the need for nuanced policy approaches balancing moral and practical dimensions of justice.