Reasons for Supporting and Opposing Capital Punishment in the USA: A Preliminary Study (original) (raw)
Related papers
Emotions, Attitudes, and the Death Penalty (Research Proposal)
The death penalty is a much disputed aspect of today's criminal justice system. Many people believe that it should be abolished while others believe that it should be harsher on offenders. This research proposal is designed to look at the different emotions and attitudes that affect the death penalty and its usage and determine people's standing on capital punishment because of these attitudes and emotions in order to determine how much of a factor these ideas are in death penalty sentencing and legislation.
SAGE Open, 2016
Although a sizable number of studies have gathered information from college students regarding their varying degrees of support for capital punishment, few have explored the underlying rationales behind these students' death penalty support or opposition. In addition, although criminal justice majors have frequently been used as study participants, little research has sought to explore if law enforcement majors are different in manners for supporting or opposing capital punishment than other criminal justice majors. In the current study, a survey designed to measure reasons for support or opposition to capital punishment was administered to a convenience sample of 135 criminal justice and law enforcement majors at a midsize Midwestern university. The results indicated that law enforcement majors were not significantly different from criminal justice majors on measures of support or opposition to capital punishment. There were, however, some notable differences found related to the academic standing of the students.
Exploring the Effects of Attitudes Toward the Death Penalty on Capital Sentencing Verdicts.
2004
Abstract 1. Attitudes toward the death penalty are multifaceted and strongly held, but little research outside of the death-qualification literature has focused on the role that such attitudes and beliefs play in jurors' capital sentencing verdicts. A single item is insufficient to properly measure attitudes toward the death penalty; therefore, a new 15-item, 5-factor scale was constructed and validated.
Expanding the Spectrum of Attitudes Toward the Death Penalty
Criminal Justice Review, 2014
Overall, studies show that the majority of Americans support the use of the death penalty for murderers; however, few studies have investigated response patterns to death penalty survey questions that offer more than yes/no response options. Without a realistic understanding of Americans’ attitudes, the existence of this controversial legislation may hinge on inaccurate depictions of public opinion. The current study utilizes a college sample of students from a southern university ( N = 775, average age 22) to investigate how nondichotomous response options affect our understandings of death penalty attitudes. Using independent variables that are commonly found in quantitative studies about death penalty attitudes (i.e., religiosity, biblical literalism, political attitudes, race, gender, age, southern region) as well as independent variables less commonly seen in death penalty studies (i.e., feminist identity, and student-specific variables: grade point average, freshman status, hi...
Public Opinion and the Death Penalty: A Qualitative Approach
Strong public support for capital punishment is arguably the number one reason why the death penalty continues to be used as a form of correctional policy in the U.S. criminal justice system. Therefore, it is fundamental that the measure of death penalty opinion be heavily scrutinized. Utilizing a methodological approach not typically employed in this area, the current study conducted six focus groups to gain a better understanding of the complexity of these opinions. During the focus groups, participants were asked to state their general beliefs concerning the death penalty, respond to scenarios, and respond to research findings regarding the death penalty (i.e., costs, deterrence, wrongful convictions, race, etc.). The findings suggest that participants' views regarding the death penalty are more multifaceted than previously believed. This study further suggests that current methods used to measure public support of the death penalty fail to capture the complexity of sentiment on this issue. Over the past few decades American correctional policy has focused on a " get tough " approach toward crime and punishment. In order to cast themselves as " tough on crime, " both Democrats and Republicans have continuously supported measures to increase the punishment allocated to criminal offenders. The most punitive type of punishment in the United States is arguably the death penalty. Unlike other types of punishments (such as prison or jail), the death penalty is the only punishment with a mobilized opposition that continues to fight against its use. Political leaders, criminal justice administrators, judges, and citizen groups throughout the United States look at public opinion on capital punishment to support its continued use. In fact, strong public support is arguably the number one reason the death penalty continues to be used as a form of correctional policy in our criminal justice system. Bohm (2003) argues that public support for the death penalty contributes to its continued use in at least five ways. First, strong public support can sway legislators to vote in favor of the death penalty and against any statutes seeking its repeal. Second, he argues that prosecutors may seek the death penalty for political rather than legal purposes. Third, it may influence judges to impose death sentences or uphold death sentences on appeal. Fourth, governors may be less likely to veto death penalty legislation or commute a death sentence due to fear of risking re-election. Lastly, and what Bohm argues is the most important, is that supreme court justices (both state and federal) examine support for the death penalty as a measure of " evolving standards of decency " to decide whether the death penalty violates the U.S. Constitution's 8th Amendment " cruel and unusual punishment " clause.
Public Opinion on Capital Punishment
2020
The death penalty in the United States has its set of controversies from the people who support and those who oppose the policy. I want to examine how the death penalty and public opinion has changed over time. I also want to examine if there are statistical differences in regard to gender and political party. I would also like to compare different generations, such as millennials and baby boomers, to see if they vary in support for the death penalty. The last variable I would like to analyze is difference in regard to race and ethnicities. As a Deputy Juvenile Officer, this topic is important to me because I work daily in the criminal justice field. Advancements in criminal reform have been happening for the juvenile world, but I am not as up to date on issues facing the adult courts. In the juvenile world, criminal justice is restorative and rehabilitative. In the adult world, the system is punitive based. Since I work on the side of rehabilitation, I am interested in seeing how o...
Attitudes toward capital punishment: Educational, demographic, and neighborhood crime influences
The Social Science Journal, 2012
Studying attitudes toward capital punishment has been a topic of interest for decades. Indeed, it is often the subject of Gallup polls, political commentary, and social science research. Research indicates that attitudes vary by demographic factors, educational influences, and neighborhood crime rates. Building on prior research, the current study examined death penalty attitudes among 599 college students and 213 residents from high crime and low crime neighborhoods. In particular, the research investigated differences between how students and residents view the death penalty as no research to date has analyzed this issue. The authors also analyzed how different populations perceived the impact of race on the administration of the death penalty. Results suggested that demographics, especially race, have the strongest impact on death penalty attitudes, but that there are few differences between students and residents and those living in high and low crime neighborhoods.
Hardening of the Attitudes: Americans' Views on the Death Penalty
Journal of Social Issues, 1994
American support for the death penalty has steadily increased since 1966, when opponents outnumbered supporters, and now in the mid-1990s is at a near record high. Research over the last 20 years has tended to confirm the hypothesis that most people's death penalty attitudes (pro or con) are based on emotion rather than information or rational argument. People feel strongly about the death penalty, know little about it, and feel no need to know more. Factual information (e.g., about deterrence and discrimination) is generally irrelevant to people's attitudes, and they are aware that this is so. Support for the death penalty has risen for most major felonies. Youth is seen as much less of a mitigating factor than it was 35 years ago, but most people still oppose the execution of the mentally retarded. As crime rates have risen despite repeated promises by politicians to "get tough on crime," the death penalty has become an increasingly prominent issue in electoral politics, suggesting that public opinion should be an issue of central importance for research. We suggest that future research should focus more explicitly on racial attitudes, on comparisons of the death penalty with specijic alternatives, and on the emotional aspects of attitudes toward the death penalty.
Southwest Journal of …, 2008
Although a majority of citizens supports the death penalty, there is increasing concern surrounding numerous issues with its application. Currently, little is known about the nature and dynamics of death penalty attitudes in the context of these issues. In an attempt to examine such dynamics and the reception and impact of information about these issues, this article examines attitudes among college students in Texas and California. The results indicate that, although substantial proportions of respondents are receptive to information critical of the death penalty, such information is unlikely to have an impact on death penalty support. This article offers evidence that death penalty attitudes are often value-expressive rather than rational or instrumental and further fi nds that a value-expressive attitudinal orientation toward the death penalty is a signifi cant predictor of such receptivity and attitude mutability.