Values of faculty members play a significant role in education process. They determine future professionals’ normative attitudes, their legal culture and legal consciousness. The article explores criminal justice faculty attitudes towards punishment. Using a sample drawn from national criminal law conference participants, we conclude that these attitudes are influenced by one’s understanding of the sources of crime, age and victimization experience. Older faculty members, as well as those who prefer positivist explanations of crime and who have not been victims of crime are less punitive.