Knowledge and death penalty opinion: A panel study

Abstract

This study addressed the stability of informed death penalty opinions (and reasons for opinions) by examining them approximately two and three years after subjects completed a month-long college class on the death penalty. Among the results of the study were: (1) “abstract” death penalty opinions changed significantly through exposure to “classroom knowledge,” but after two or three years they “rebounded” to near their initial pretest positions; (2) “personal involvement” death penalty opinions did not change significantly from pretest to posttest to follow-up; and (3) the level of agreement with seven of the eleven reasons for death penalty opinions changed significantly between pretest and posttest, but on the follow-up they “rebounded” to the initial pretest level of agreement; the level of agreement with two of the reasons changed significantly between the pretest and the posttest but remained relatively stable between the posttest and the follow-up; and the level of agreement for the other two reasons remained relatively stable over the three points in time. Implications of the findings are discussed.