NCJ Number
224184
Journal
Criminal Justice Studies: A Critical Journal of Crime, Law and Society Volume: 21 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2008 Pages: 193-212
Date Published
June 2008
Length
20 pages
Annotation
In an attempt to fill an important gap in the understanding of death penalty attitudes, specifically, the attitudes of criminal justice majors as contrasted with the majors of other disciplines, a survey was conducted of both types of students at a midwestern public university.
Abstract
Criminal justice majors were more supportive of capital punishment than were noncriminal justice students. Specifically, 71 percent of criminal justice students supported capital punishment to at least some degree. Moreover, the criminal justice students in the study appear to be more supportive of the death penalty than United States society as a whole. The findings suggest that criminal justice students are more punitive than noncriminal justice students and more punitive than the United States population. There is a growing body of literature exploring the views of criminal justice students on a myriad of criminal justice issues and whether they differed from other students. However, little research has been focused on the death penalty views of criminal justice students and how they differ from the death penalty views of noncriminal justice majors. Based on survey data from students at a public midwestern university, the death penalty views of criminal justice majors and noncriminal justice majors were examined along with why these two groups of students support or oppose the death penalty. Tables and references