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Reassessing the Racial Divide in Support for Capital Punishment: The Continuing Significance of Race
- Source :
-
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency . 2007 44(1):124-158. - Publication Year :
- 2007
-
Abstract
- This project investigates the racial divide in support for capital punishment. The authors examine whether race has a direct effect on support for capital punishment and test whether the influence of race varies across class, being a native southerner, confidence in government officials, political orientation, and religious affiliation. Using data drawn from the General Social Survey, they find a substantial racial divide, with African Americans much less likely to support the death penalty. Furthermore, the analysis revealed little support for the "spurious/social convergence" hypothesis; shared factors that might be expected to bring African Americans and Whites together--class, confidence in government, conservative politics, regional location, and religious fundamentalism--either did not narrow African American-White punishment attitudes or, at best, had only modest effects. The Results suggest that the racial divide in support for capital punishment is likely to remain a point of symbolic contention in African American-White conceptions of criminal injustice in the United States. (Contains 2 tables and 19 notes.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0022-4278
- Volume :
- 44
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- ERIC
- Journal :
- Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- EJ804570
- Document Type :
- Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427806295837