NCJ Number
213834
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 43 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 169-197
Date Published
May 2006
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This study examined the assumption that those belonging to a Christian fundamentalist religious denomination would be more likely to support capital punishment due to the nature of their conservative beliefs.
Abstract
Overall the results did not support the hypothesis: Christian fundamentalists were not more likely than moderate or liberal denominations to support capital punishment. A closer look at this finding revealed complexities and tensions within the religious beliefs of Christian fundamentalists that should serve to both increase and decrease their support for capital punishment. For example, it was found that Christian fundamentalists were more likely to have a harsher image of God, and that individuals who have harsher images of God are more likely to support capital punishment. On the other hand, Christian fundamentalists were found to be more forgiving than other denominations and individuals who are more forgiving are less likely to support capital punishment. The findings illustrate the complexity of religious beliefs and the need to disentangle the countervailing effects of different features of religiosity in order to fully understand the impact of religious beliefs on crime control attitudes. Data were drawn from the 1998 General Social Survey (GSS) which includes information from a representative sample of adults in the United States. Variables under examination included Christian fundamentalism, conservative religious beliefs, forgiveness, compassion, religious salience, and political attitudes as well as theoretically relevant control variables such as race, gender, and level of education. Data were analyzed using logistic regression, ordinal regression, and ordinary least squares models. Future research may explore differences among Christian fundamentalists in terms of their support for capital punishment, such as differences by region of the country, gender, and race. Tables, notes, references