NCJ Number
130356
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Education Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1991) Pages: 69-80
Date Published
1991
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study isolates specific stimuli that produce changes in the opinions about the death penalty among students who have taken a college class on capital punishment.
Abstract
Study subjects included 105 undergraduates of a medium-sized Alabama university; 70 subjects were in the experimental group and 35 in the control group. The experimental group, 60 percent male and 72 percent white, was comprised of students enrolled in a special class on the death penalty. Study findings showed that participation in the class reduced the percentage of subjects in favor of the death penalty and increased the percentage opposed. Changes among whites, however, were slight, whereas changes among blacks were much greater. The stimulus with the most dramatic effect on changing black students' death penalty opinions was a video presentation on an execution. The video depicted the last days of Earl Johnson, a black man who was executed in Mississippi's gas chamber after being convicted and sentenced to death for murdering a white police officer. Implications of the study results for criminal justice education and changing opinions about the death penalty are discussed. 16 references, 2 tables, and 1 figure (Author abstract modified)