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Abstract

The death penalty is a controversial social issue in our society. Few other issues engender such debate or stir such emotions. Although the percentage of people who support capital punishment has decreased in recent decades, the majority of Americans still support it. The National Association of Social Workers, however, staunchly opposes the death penalty. This study examined the differences in death penalty attitudes between social work and non-social work undergraduate majors at a large public university. Far fewer social work students supported capital punishment as compared to students in other majors. Additionally, the results indicated that social work majors significantly differ from other students in the reasons for supporting/opposing capital punishment.