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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The goal of this study by Barkan and Cohn was to investigate whether white support for the death penalty is associated with racial prejudice.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors employed a quasi-experimental design using data from the 1990 General Social Survey (GSS) to determine whether and to what extent white support for the death penalty was associated with racial prejudice. The 1990 GSS was a random sample of the adult population of the United States including 1,150 whites, 159, blacks, and 63 "other." However, only whites were included in this study. Racial prejudice was measured using two items: antipathy toward blacks and racial stereotyping. In order to measure personal antipathy toward blacks, respondents were asked to indicate the degree to which they favored or opposed the following: (1) living in a neighborhood where half the neighbors are black, and (2) having a close relative or family member marry a black person. These two items had an alpha reliability of .67. Four items were used to create a measure of racial stereotyping. Using a 7-point scale, respondents were asked questions regarding items that referred to beliefs about blacks such as laziness, unintelligence, preferences for welfare, and lack of patriotism. These items had an alpha reliability of .69. Nine other independent variables were included in the analysis: political conservatism, fear of crime, affiliation with a fundamentalist church, (degree of) religious attendance, education level, age, gender, southern residence, and population size. The dependant variable, support of the death penalty, was measured using a dichotomous variable where favor=1 and oppose=0. Bivariate regression and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the data.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The authors stated that the findings confirmed the hypothesis that racial antipathy and stereotyping are associated with white support for the death penalty. The bivariate correlation between antipathy to blacks and support for the death penalty was.17; controlling for the independent variables, this relationship increased to .26. Racial stereotyping also significantly predicted the dependent variable; the bivariate correlation was .10 and the multivariate .08. Political conservatism was also found to be a significant predictor in both regression equations (.18 and .30, respectively). A significant relationship was not found between the dependent variable and fear of crime, belonging to a fundamentalist church, religious attendance, and population size. Gender was significant in both analyses while education and membership in a southern residence were significant only in the bivariate analysis.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors stated that policy regarding the death penalty should not necessarily be guided by public opinion. The authors also stated that the relationship found between racial prejudice and support for the death penalty may be spurious, as white-black differences in death penalty support may be related to black attitudes toward racial bias in the application of the death penalty. Therefore, the authors argued a complete investigation should include measures of perception of procedural fairness in the criminal justice system as control variables.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
Capital Punishment
Racial Differences
Racial Factors
Violence Effects
Public Perceptions
Racism
Adult Perceptions
African American Adult
African American Perceptions
Caucasian Adult
Caucasian Perceptions
Correctional Decision Making
Justice System Perceptions
Prejudice
Death Penalty
Social Support
Black-White Comparison
07-01 |