NCJ Number
230035
Journal
Criminology Volume: 48 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2010 Pages: 99-130
Date Published
February 2010
Length
32 pages
Annotation
Controlling for other known predictors of crime-related opinions, this study tests the explanatory power of the following three competing theories to account for support for the death penalty and a punitive crime-control approach: the escalating crime-distrust model, the moral decline model, and the racial animus model.
Abstract
This analysis of a national sample of respondents surveyed in the 2000 National Election Study (NES) provided partial support for each model; however, racial animus apparently exerts the most consistent effect on public sentiments. This suggests that resentment toward racial groups perceived as being disproportionately involved in crime is linked to the sustained movement to "get tough" on crime. The racial-animus model proposes that punitiveness in the United States, if not cross-culturally, is fueled by negative feelings and views of the majority toward minority members of racial/ethnic group members. It suggests that race and racism are thus integral to any understanding of why Americans endorse punitive crime-control policies. The crime-distrust model, which was partially supported, argues that support for punitive crime policies is based in the perceptions that crime is increasing and that the government, especially the courts, have not adequately protected them from crime. The moral decline model theorizes that people resort to an increase in punitiveness toward law-breakers when they feel that society's core institutions are in decline and that a shared set of moral values underlying normative behavior is in decline. The 2000 NES used probability samples of the American voting-age population residing in housing in the coterminous 48 States. A total of 1,620 persons provided post-election and pre-election interviews. Two dependent variables measured the degree to which Americans endorse punitive attitudes toward addressing social problems, including the use of the death penalty. Independent variables pertained to the three explanatory models tested. 5 tables and 103 references