NCJ Number
133740
Date Published
1991
Length
20 pages
Annotation
A survey was conducted of a sample of 142 predominantly African American university students enrolled in courses in criminal justice and corrections to identify those persons favoring the use of the death penalty and to change their attitude.
Abstract
The data were analyzed to determine how questions used to screen jurors in criminal cases were associated with support or opposition to capital punishment. In a mass communications experiment, students favoring capital punishment were assigned supplemental reading material consisting of the ACLU's pamphlet on reasons to abolish the death penalty; the placebo document consisted of a government publication arguing for the need to establish standards in criminal justice. Significant beliefs were discovered in the direction of abolition of the death penalty: adult offenders can be rehabilitated; support for drug testing of professional athletes; racial discrimination exists in the criminal justice systems; race figures prominently in who gets the death penalty; and females are less likely to support the death penalty for females.