NCJ Number
171085
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Dated: (Fall 1995) Pages: 37-55
Date Published
1995
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Twenty-three students who took part in a college class on capital punishment recorded their attitudes toward the topic on a weekly basis and also completed a 1-year follow-up.
Abstract
The course was listed as a class on Issues in Criminal Justice. The class schedule did not list the topics of the instructor's name. The author was the instructor. The course materials included books that focused on capital punishment and were written by Bedau and Johnson, as well as a packet of required readings. The class met for 2 hours once a week as a seminar. The first half focused on capital punishment; the second half focused on controversial topics. The students answered a single question regarding capital punishment each week. At the start of the semester, 35 percent of the students said they were at least somewhat opposed, 9 percent were undecided, and 56 percent were at least somewhat in favor of capital punishment. By the end of the semester, 65 percent of the students indicated opposition to capital punishment. One year after the class, 73 percent of the students maintained some degree of opposition to capital punishment. Tables, notes, and 25 references (Author abstract modified)