Determinants of Public Opinion on the Death Penalty
Determinants of Public Opinion on the Death Penalty

Author: Matthew Matour

Publisher:

Published: 2024

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Capital punishment represents an interesting case in the context of public opinion. Support for the death penalty varies tremendously among different populations across the United States, as demonstrated through Gallup and many other national polling services. Which factors account for this variation in public opinion on the death penalty among US citizens? This research attempts to account for such influences, utilizing sociopolitical and demographic data from the American National Election Survey (ANES) to construct both cross-sectional and longitudinal models for death penalty support. My results find that variables such as partisanship, education level, gender, and perception of criminal activity have historically explained attitudes toward capital punishment over time. For example, those who are Republican, male, and in favor of increasing federal spending on crime are more likely to support capital punishment. These results mostly hold true both in 2020 and over the span of the longitudinal analysis. In addition, several other variables demonstrate significance, granting predictive power for whether or not a hypothetical individual with specific characteristics will support the death penalty. Finally, trends of variable significance over time suggest that social, political, and economic events may have impacted capital punishment support in the short-term. Such events include, but are likely not limited to, the rise of innocence movements around the year 2000, the financial crisis of 2008, and the hyper-partisanship of American politics surrounding the 2016 presidential election.

The Death Penalty
The Death Penalty

Author: Roger Hood

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 500

ISBN-13: 0199228469

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This new edition of a classic study assesses the global status of capital punishment. As in previous editions, this work draws on Roger Hood's experiences as consultant to the United Nations for the Secretary General's five-yearly surveys of capital punishment as well as the latest literature from non-governmental organizations and academic experts. This edition examines significant developments around the world including the Chinese plan for the People's Supreme Court to review all death sentences, and the abolition in the USA of the death penalty for offenders who committed murder while under the age of 18. Recent legal challenges to lethal injection as a form of execution are also examined. This edition also includes an additional chapter on the role and influence of victims' families and victim interest movements. This volume shows how, despite a number of set-backs, the movement to abolish the death penalty has continued to gather pace; that international organizations and human rights treaties continue to put pressure on retentionist countries; that further developments have been made in securing protection for those facing the death penalty in retentionist counties; and that, despite such advances, in some parts of the world the range of crimes subject to the death penalty remains wide and the number of executions considerable. This work engages with the latest debates on the realities of capital punishment, with claims that the death penalty is a unique deterrent to murder and other serious crimes, and contains expanded coverage of arguments about the role of public opinion in the debate on capital punishment.

A Crisis of Confidence
A Crisis of Confidence

Author: Richard C. Dieter

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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According to a national public opinion poll conducted in 2007, the public is losing confidence in the death penalty. People are deeply concerned about the risk of executing the innocent, about the fairness of the process, and about the inability of capital punishment to accomplish its basic purposes. Most Americans believe that innocent people have already been executed, that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime, and that a moratorium should be placed on all executions. Many in America also believe they would be disqualified from serving on a jury in a capital case because of their moral objections. Among women and Catholics, nearly half believe they would be excluded. Two-thirds of blacks believe they would be disqualified. Even among those who support the death penalty and believe they would be qualified to serve on a capital jury, the risk of convicting or executing the innocent would make them less likely to vote for a death sentence. While a majority still support the death penalty in theory, it is becoming irrelevant to many Americans because it is rarely applied, and not always to the worst offenders. Life without parole sentences are becoming more attractive to many Americans, and it is the preferable choice over the death penalty for major subgroups of the population. Two-thirds of Americans do not believe that reforms of the death penalty system will eliminate its problems. The public's lack of confidence in the death penalty is being echoed by representatives of victims' groups, by former supporters of the death penalty, and in the editorial pages of the nation's newspapers. Although the dissatisfaction with capital punishment has many roots, the common and principal concern heard throughout the country is the risk that innocent people may be caught up with the guilty.

Deterrence and the Death Penalty
Deterrence and the Death Penalty

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2012-05-26

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 0309254167

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Many studies during the past few decades have sought to determine whether the death penalty has any deterrent effect on homicide rates. Researchers have reached widely varying, even contradictory, conclusions. Some studies have concluded that the threat of capital punishment deters murders, saving large numbers of lives; other studies have concluded that executions actually increase homicides; still others, that executions have no effect on murder rates. Commentary among researchers, advocates, and policymakers on the scientific validity of the findings has sometimes been acrimonious. Against this backdrop, the National Research Council report Deterrence and the Death Penalty assesses whether the available evidence provides a scientific basis for answering questions of if and how the death penalty affects homicide rates. This new report from the Committee on Law and Justice concludes that research to date on the effect of capital punishment on homicide rates is not useful in determining whether the death penalty increases, decreases, or has no effect on these rates. The key question is whether capital punishment is less or more effective as a deterrent than alternative punishments, such as a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Yet none of the research that has been done accounted for the possible effect of noncapital punishments on homicide rates. The report recommends new avenues of research that may provide broader insight into any deterrent effects from both capital and noncapital punishments.

Peculiar Institution
Peculiar Institution

Author: David Garland

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2011-02-01

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 0674058488

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The U.S. death penalty is a peculiar institution, and a uniquely American one. Despite its comprehensive abolition elsewhere in the Western world, capital punishment continues in dozens of American states– a fact that is frequently discussed but rarely understood. The same puzzlement surrounds the peculiar form that American capital punishment now takes, with its uneven application, its seemingly endless delays, and the uncertainty of its ever being carried out in individual cases, none of which seem conducive to effective crime control or criminal justice. In a brilliantly provocative study, David Garland explains this tenacity and shows how death penalty practice has come to bear the distinctive hallmarks of America’s political institutions and cultural conflicts. America’s radical federalism and local democracy, as well as its legacy of violence and racism, account for our divergence from the rest of the West. Whereas the elites of other nations were able to impose nationwide abolition from above despite public objections, American elites are unable– and unwilling– to end a punishment that has the support of local majorities and a storied place in popular culture. In the course of hundreds of decisions, federal courts sought to rationalize and civilize an institution that too often resembled a lynching, producing layers of legal process but also delays and reversals. Yet the Supreme Court insists that the issue is to be decided by local political actors and public opinion. So the death penalty continues to respond to popular will, enhancing the power of criminal justice professionals, providing drama for the media, and bringing pleasure to a public audience who consumes its chilling tales. Garland brings a new clarity to our understanding of this peculiar institution– and a new challenge to supporters and opponents alike.

Capital Punishment in the United States
Capital Punishment in the United States

Author: Bryan Vila

Publisher: Greenwood

Published: 1997-08-30

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0313299420

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Both sides of the highly charged capital punishment debate in the United States are examined in this breakthrough collection of 112 key documents, arranged by historical period. The political and social aspects of the debate are represented through a wide range of documents, including congressional hearings, Supreme Court decisions, position papers, biographical accounts, and news stories. An explanatory introduction precedes each document to help readers understand how various and seemingly unrelated social, economic, and political factors have impacted public attitudes, legislation, and judicial decisions pertaining to capital punishment. Vila and Morris provide us with the historical and ecological framework in which this centuries-old debate has unfolded. This volume is organized into six parts, each one representing a different time period: Colonial Era to Independence, 1800-1917, 1918-1959, 1960-1976, 1977-1989, and the 1990s. The documents provided in each part trace the history and development of the debate, chronicling the ebb and flow of support for the death penalty during different periods in our country's history. Special attention is paid to the effects of particular events in history—the American Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights movement, for example—on the ever-changing opinions concerning capital punishment. The representation of both sides of the debate found in these documents will encourage and challenge students, policymakers, and concerned citizens to examine their own viewpoints and draw their own conclusions on the capital punishment debate.