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Unmasking the American death penalty debate: Race, context, and citizens’ willingness to execute

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  • Mark D. Ramirez

Abstract

Research on public attitudes toward the death penalty has yet to systematically examine the role of race in the context of offense‐related attributes. This study uses a conjoint experiment randomly exposing a sample of 500 U.S. adults to different pairings of capital offenders to test the role of both offender and offense‐related attributes on beliefs about death penalty deservingness. The results show offense‐related factors play a significant role in who the public deems deserving of the death penalty, while the offender's race matters only for citizens holding prejudicial opinions towards Blacks or Latinos. Instrumental considerations typically outweigh racial considerations in death penalty judgments, although perceptions of those factors might be racialized as well. The results point to a potential disjuncture between the desires of citizens and the implementation of the death penalty.

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  • Mark D. Ramirez, 2021. "Unmasking the American death penalty debate: Race, context, and citizens’ willingness to execute," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(4), pages 1931-1946, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:102:y:2021:i:4:p:1931-1946
    DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.13051
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cochran, John K. & Chamlin, Mitchell B., 2006. "The enduring racial divide in death penalty support," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 85-99.
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    5. Hainmueller, Jens & Hopkins, Daniel J. & Yamamoto, Teppei, 2014. "Causal Inference in Conjoint Analysis: Understanding Multidimensional Choices via Stated Preference Experiments," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 1-30, January.
    6. Jens Hainmueller & Daniel J. Hopkins, 2015. "The Hidden American Immigration Consensus: A Conjoint Analysis of Attitudes toward Immigrants," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(3), pages 529-548, July.
    7. Mark Peffley & Jon Hurwitz, 2007. "Persuasion and Resistance: Race and the Death Penalty in America," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(4), pages 996-1012, October.
    8. Paul Brace & Brent D. Boyea, 2008. "State Public Opinion, the Death Penalty, and the Practice of Electing Judges," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 360-372, April.
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