Introduction
Capital Punishment, which is the authorized killing as punishment for a crime, is something that people have often debated about. There are groups that in favor of it, and groups that oppose. Prior research has found that death penalty support (DPS), which can be used interchangeably with ‘capital punishment,’ can vary by gender and political orientation. Prior research has found that since 1982, support for the death penalty has remained at about 70-75%, then peaked at 80% back in 1994 (Ellsworth and Gross 1994; Jones 2000) but had declined to 66% by 2000 (Jones 2000). Gender differences can reveal that 71% of males and 61% of females favored capital punishment back in 2000 (Jones 2000). Stack (2000) examines what theories can be explained by the varying support/no support, such as symbolic orientation, crime saliency, and, demographic factions, which include differential socialization and hormonal differences. The data collected is from the subset of the 2008 General Social Survey. Cross tabulations were used as all to compare the association between dichotomous variables – male and female, conservative and non-conservative, and favoring or opposing the death penalty. A stacked bar graph is also used to compare demographic characteristics between sex and percentage of opposition/favor. With all the research, does support for the death penalty vary by gender and political orientation in the 2008 GSS sample?
Literature review
Introduction
After review of the relevant literature, four main themes can be found for support of the death penalty: 1) the effect of DPS on law and policy; 2) trends over time in support for the death penalty; 3) socio-demographic correlates of death penalty support, which gender and political orientation emerging as particularly strong predictors of DPS; 4) theoretical explanations for variations in death penalty support, with models that offer explanations for gender and political orientation variations in DPS particularly salient.
The effect of DPS on law and policy
Emotions often play a role in how people are to react versus using logical reasoning. Taking a look back at a significant Supreme Court case, Furman v. Georgia (1972), the justices agreed that legality of capital punishment were based on the opinion of the people (Ellsworth and Gross 1994). Four years later, Gregg v. Georgia (1976) challenged the constitutionality of the death penalty, and the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty as constitutional (Ellsworth and Gross 1994).
Looking back at presidential campaigns, DPS has played a role in how the people vote. The candidate who held the views of the majority would be the front-runner for presidency, “Governor Clinton made his support clear by presiding over two executions in Arkansas during the 1992 presidential campaign. As a result, the issue never surfaced in the presidential debates, in Republican campaign ads, or that mater, in the national opinion polls- and Clinton won,” (Ellsworth and Gross 1994). The 2000 presidential campaign showed that the way Bush handled the death penalty before had a negative influence on his campaign by 18% (Jones 2000).
Trends over time in support for the death penalty
Over time, the support for the death penalty has been up and down. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that a majority (66%) of Americans still support the death penalty; while 26% oppose capital punishment (Jones, 2000). DPS hit a peak of 80%, favoring capital punishment in 1994, but then declining to 66% by 2000 (Jones 2000). Around the world, the death penalty was being abolished in places like Britain, Canada, France, and West Germany (Ellsworth and Gross 1994).
Socio-demographic correlates of death penalty support
DPS varies by a number of variables such as age, religion, race, socio-economic status, and region. Men favor the death penalty more than women, as does white responders than black responders, republicans more than democrats, and middle-class/upper more than the lower class. Big cities and rural areas can be found to have less DPS than suburban areas (Ellsworth and Gross 1994). Stack (2000) takes note from previous research conducted finding that “21 national Gallup polls on DPS, dating form 1936-1986 […] men were found to be more in favor of the DP than women. On the average, 65% of men and 53% of women favored the DP [at the bivariate level of analysis]” (Stack 2000).
Explanations for variations in DPS
DPS can be explained by gender, symbolism, and political orientation. In terms of symbolism, racial prejudice can be examined. Stack (2000) notes that “whites might define legal responses to crime, including the death penalty, as a means of controlling minorities. Further, to the extent that whites are racially prejudiced, it be anticipated that the punitive response toward criminals may be enhanced” (Stack 2000). Controlling for prejudice could weaken associations between gender and DPS (Stack 2000). Stack claims that “Authoritarianism is thought to foster DPS through promoting absolutist thought over relativistic thought” (Stack 2000). This finding can “often be found to linked to a general symbolic orientation, such as sociopolitical ideology or an authoritarian personality syndrome other than crime-related concerns” (Stack 2000).
Those who rate crime as a salient problem, “groups with punitive attitudes, crime victims, gun owners, and persons fearful of crime” (Stack 2000), are highly in favor of the death penalty (Stack 2000). Women have a lower DPS due to being less punitive, less knowledge and use of firearms, and a lower victimization rate (Stack 2000). Since women have the lower, men have the higher up in what was previous said with women.
Men and women have different biological differences in regards to aggression (Stack 2000). The differences in hormones can be the link, and can be seen as young as 2 years old, thus can support why men are more accepting of violence than women (Stack 2000).
Summary
After reviewing the relevant literature, the effects of DPS on law and policy has shown to play a role, DPS is starting to change, there are a number of variables that play a role in DPS, and looking further into variations can help explain DPS.
Research Question & Hypotheses
Introduction
After reviewing relevant literature, DPS varies by a number of sociodemographic characteristics. Gender and political identification have been found to be consistently associated with differences in support for the death penalty. More specifically, the literature has found that men and political conservatives are more likely to support the death penalty than women and liberals (Jones 2000; Stack 2000; Ellsworth and Gross 1994).
Research question: In keeping with prior research findings, does death penalty support vary by gender and political orientation in the 2008 GSS sample?
Hypotheses
Hypothesis # 1: Males are more likely to support the death penalty than females.
Null hypothesis #1: There is no difference between males and females in their support for the death penalty.
Rationale: Men certainly do express greater DPS. Men have been victimized more than women, and men also have more knowledge and use of firearms than women (Ellsworth and Gross 1994; Stack 2000).
Hypothesis # 2: Conservatives are more likely to support the death penalty than non-conservatives.
Null hypothesis #2: There is no difference between conservatives and non-conservatives in their support for the death penalty.
Rationale: “Republicans favor the death penalty more than Democrats, conservatives more than liberals,” (Ellsworth and Gross 1994).
Hypothesis #3: Males are more likely to support the death penalty than females, and this is more likely to hold true for conservatives than for non-conservatives
Null hypothesis #3: There is no difference between males and females in their support for the death penalty, even when political orientation is controlled.
Rationale : There is a difference between males and females in their DPS. Political orientation plays a role, despite knowledge of what is happening. Conservative women tend to follow suit of other conservatives.
Research Methods and Procedures
Introduction
This section of the paper explains the method and data used to test the previously presented hypotheses, describes the sample, outlines the data analysis procedures.
A subset of The General Social Survey from 2008 is being used. The data has been collected since 1972. This study was conducted with in person interviews, by three principal investigators. The data file contains 3,559 cases, and 898 variables.
Sample characteristics
Sample table: (PARTIAL)
Table 1: 2008 GSS sub-sample characteristics
Sociodemographic Characteristics
Mean (Standard Deviation) or Valid %*
Sex
Male
45.9%
Female
54.1%
Race
White
77.1%
Black
13.9%
Other
9%
Age
47.71(17.35)
Source: 2008 GSS Sample
Valid% is presented for categorical variables while mean and standard deviation presented for continuous variables.
Not only did the research examine the following above, but it also looked at education, income, and political orientation.
Statistical procedures and recoding
The formula used for dichotomous variables was “(one attribute of the IV) is/are more/less likely to (one attribute of the DV) than (the other I.V. attribute.” Crosstabulations were used to determine associations. The Pearson Chi square was used to determine statistical significance with a p.05 limit. Cramer’s V. was used to determine the strength of the significance, and recoding was used as well to turn political orientation into a dichotomous variable in order to support hypothesis #3 from hypothesis #1 and #1. For hypothesis #2, recoding of POLVIEWS into POLVIEWS2 condensed the seven attributes associated with POLVIEWS in the GSS08. Since more of the literature centers attention on conservatives versus all others, a value of 1 was assigned to Conservatives and a value of 2 was assigned to Non-conservatives, an attribute composed of moderates and liberals.
Results
Introduction
This section will further show associations between gender and DPS, conservatism and DPS, and gender and DPS controlled by conservatism.
Hypothesis #1
Hypothesis # 1: Males are more likely to support the death penalty than females.
Table 2: Crosstabulation of support for capital punishment by sex ,
with column percentages reported.
Respondent’s Sex
Male
female
total
Capital
Punishment
favor
71.3%
62.1%
66.4%
oppose
28.7%
37.9%
33.6%
total
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Pearson X2:p.<.000; Cramer’s V=.097
Source: 2008 GSS subset
The data lend support for hypothesis #1. While a majority (66.4%) of respondents in the 2008 GSS sample support capital punishment (DPS), there is a moderately strong (V= .097), statistically significant difference (p.<.000) in DPS by sex, with 71.3% of men favoring capital punishment, in contrast to 62.1% of women.
Discussion
Introduction
With the data that been collected, does death penalty support vary by gender and political orientation in the 2008 GSS sample? With three hypotheses, 1) Males are more likely to support the death penalty than females; 2) Conservatives are more likely to support the death penalty than non-conservatives; 3) Males are more likely to support the death penalty than females, and this is more likely to hold true for conservatives than for non-conservatives, the research was able to support those statements.
Gender differences in DPS
Prior research finds that in 1994, DPS peaked at 80% (Ellsworth and Gross 1994; Jones 2000), but then declining in 2000 (Jones 2000). Because of this trend, DPS is likely to continue to decline. Table 2 does show that 66.4% of respondents do favor the death penalty. Jones (2000) found that “Men are more likely to favor the death penalty than are women, by a 71 percent to 61 percent margin” (Jones 2000).
Though some data has remained stable, looking at other variables more could lend more support in why men support the death penalty more than women, such as examining whether or not victimization rates has changed between men and women.
DPS variations by political orientation
Jones (2000) notes that “Conservatives (74 percent) and Republicans (81 percent) are much more likely to favor the death penalty than liberals and democrats. Certain regions throughout the US have stronger conservatism than others. Because of this, beliefs are learned through other forms of socialization.
Gender differences in DPS among conservatives and non-conservatives
Men and women do have their difference when it comes to DPS, but those in the same cohort will typically have the same DPS, “groups with punitive attitudes, crime victims, gun owners, and persons fearful of crime” (Stack 2000), are highly in favor of the death penalty.
Conclusion
Though this study revealed a lot, there were some weaknesses to the research. For one, the findings were limited to 2008. That was 10 years ago, and this country has gone through a lot, so more recent findings would be nice. For two, because of the limited sample size and limited political parties, liberals could not be looked at, also due to the number of modernists. For future research, the study should look at more recent years, and still use the same analysis, and control for other factors.
References
Ellsworth, Phoebe C., and Samuel R. Gross. 1994. "Hardening Of The Attitudes: Americans' Views On The Death Penalty." Journal of Social Issues 50(2):19-52.
Jones, Jeffrey M. 2000. "Slim Majority Of Americans Think Death Penalty Applied Fairly In This Country." Gallup.com.
Stack, Steven. 2000. "Support for the Death Penalty: A Gender-Specific Model.” Sex Roles 43(3/4):163-179.