Citation

Bader CD, Desmond SA, Carson Mencken F, Johnson BR. Crim. Justice Rev. 2010; 35(1): 90-106.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Georgia State University Public and Urban Affairs, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0734016809360329

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Some have argued that moralistic considerations trump other factors in determining attitudes toward criminal punishment. Consequently, recent research has examined how views of God influence sentiments regarding criminal punishment. Using the Baylor Religion Survey (BRS) 2005, we find that (a) angry and judgmental images of God are significant predictors of punitive attitudes regarding criminal punishment and the death penalty and (b) images of God as loving and engaged in the world are not consistently significant predictors of attitudes toward criminal punishment, once measures of God’s perceived anger and judgment are considered.