Abstract
Although a sizable number of studies have gathered information from college students regarding their varying degrees of support for capital punishment, few have explored the underlying rationales behind these students’ death penalty support or opposition. In addition, although criminal justice majors have frequently been used as study participants, little research has sought to explore if law enforcement majors are different in manners for supporting or opposing capital punishment than other criminal justice majors. In the current study, a survey designed to measure reasons for support or opposition to capital punishment was administered to a convenience sample of 135 criminal justice and law enforcement majors at a mid-size Midwestern university. The results indicated that law enforcement majors were not significantly different from criminal justice majors on measures of support or opposition to capital punishment. There were, however, some notable differences found related to the academic standing of the students.
Highlights
The death penalty is one of the most controversial subjects in America today
What they show is that criminal justice majors were somewhat lower in their levels of agreement with statements for supporting the death penalty and somewhat higher in the levels of agreement with statements for opposing the death penalty, there was only one statistically significant difference between the majors. This finding was that criminal justice majors were more in agreement with the statement “When society executes an individual for a violent crime, it is responding to violence with violence” than law enforcement majors (z = −2.29, p < .05)
Students who were further along with their education were significantly less likely to agree with the statements that “Crime is one of the most serious social problems facing society today,” that “The death penalty is a more effective deterrent than life imprisonment,” and that “We need capital punishment to provide law and order in society.”
Summary
The death penalty is one of the most controversial subjects in America today. the practice remains legal in 36 states and the District of Columbia, it has stirred passionate and heated debate among both proponents and abolitionists. There have been notable changes in regard to the circumstances that the death penalty may be imposed in the United States, as the practice was once again deemed to be constitutional following the 1976 Supreme Court decision in Gregg v. Three notable changes regarding the death penalty in America since that time are that it is no longer allowed to be imposed as punishment on criminals who are mentally retarded Virginia), that it is no longer allowed to be imposed as punishment on criminals who were below the age of 18 at the time of the crime
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