Racial Prejudice and Support for the Death Penalty by Whites

• NCJ Number: 148469
• Journal: Journal of Research on Crime and Delinquency Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1994) Pages: 202-209
• Author(s): S E Barkan; S F Cohn
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 8 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using data from the 1990 General Social Survey, this study investigates whether white attitudes toward the death penalty are associated with racial prejudice.

Abstract

Researchers selected several items in the racial attitudes module of the survey that would measure racial prejudice and perhaps predict white support for the death penalty. The items were developed into an antipathy toward blacks scale and a racial stereotyping scale. Independent variables included in the study were political conservatism, fear of crime, education, age, gender, Southern residence, and population size of the respondent's place of interview. The results showed that whites are likely to be prejudiced against blacks and supportive of capital punishment. 1 table and 37 references