NCJ Number
152517
Journal
Journal of Social Issues Volume: 50 Issue: 2 Dated: special issue (Summer 1994) Pages: 19-52
Date Published
1994
Length
34 pages
Annotation
American support for the death penalty has steadily increased since 1966, when opponents outnumbered supporters, and was at a near record high in 1994.
Abstract
Research over the past 20 years has tended to confirm the hypothesis that most people's attitudes toward the death penalty, pro or con, are based on emotion rather than on information and rational argument. People feel strongly about the death penalty, know little about it, and feel no need to know more. Factual information about deterrence and discrimination for example is generally irrelevant to individual attitudes, and people are aware that this is so. Support for the death penalty has risen for most major felonies. Youthfulness is seen as much less of a mitigating factor than it was 35 years ago, but most people still oppose the execution of mentally retarded offenders. 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. The authors suggest that future research should focus more explicitly on racial attitudes, on comparisons of the death penalty with specific alternatives, and on emotional aspects of attitudes toward the death penalty. An appendix contains information on surveys of death penalty attitudes. 56 references, 1 table, and 4 figures