Disentangling Victim Gender and Capital Punishment

Abstract

For decades, scholars have documented disparities in the administration of capital punishment. Yet explanations remain largely elusive. One area in which the shift from documentation to explanation has occurred is victim gender. Williams, Demuth, and Holcomb (2007) demonstrate that the death penalty is more likely to be imposed on behalf of women and girls because such victims are more apt to be sexually degraded. We ask the next logical question: Why does sexual degradation lead to the ultimate state sanction? Is it simply because such cases are so horrific? Or are more subtle causal mechanisms at play? Our findings indicate that the relationship between sexual degradation and the District Attorney’s decision to seek the death penalty is fully explained by media coverage. The role of the media suggests that scholars who hope to explain disparities in capital punishment must consider the interplay between case attributes and broader social institutions.

Is the Modern American Death Penalty a Fatal Lottery? Texas as a Conservative Test

“…If state legislatures narrowed the pool of death-eligible defendants to the "worst of the worst" then most would be sentenced to death, eliminating arbitrariness. Yet numerous studies conclude that social arbitrariness remains [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]60,61] and several studies have documented continuing numerical arbitrariness [24][25][26]. Summarizing the failure of regulation, Steiker and Steiker describe modern capital punishment as the "worst of all possible worlds" ( [12], p. 438).…”

“…Turning from numerical arbitrariness to social arbitrariness, we consider the influence of the victim's characteristics on death sentencing. Decades of research indicate that the death penalty is more likely to be imposed on behalf of white victims and, particularly, white female victims [16][17][18][19]35,60,61]. The current research is no exception.…”

“…The research record in Texas is also imbalanced. Despite several studies on social arbitrariness [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36], we are not aware of a single study in Texas devoted to numerical arbitrariness. The purpose of the current research is to begin filling the gap by estimating the death sentence rate in Texas during the period from 2006 to 2010.…”

Neighborhood Context and Media Constructions of Murder

“…On a broader level, disparities in media coverage marginalize the lives of those killed in Black and Latino communities by reinforcing stereotypes about “worthy victims” (Rome, 2004; Sorenson, Manz, & Berk, 1998; Stabile, 2006). 1 Newspaper coverage can also shape criminal justice responses to homicides, placing detectives and prosecutors under increased public scrutiny (Lee, 2005; Phillips, Haas, & Coverdill, 2012; Pritchard, 1986; Weiss, Berk, Li, & Farrell-Ross, 1999).…”

“…Data collected from six local newspapers on a large sample of homicide victims were analyzed using hierarchical regression models to answer the question “What effect do neighborhood characteristics have on the newspaper coverage of homicides?” This question is important not only because geographic disparities in terms of homicide coverage devalue the lives of victims from minority communities but can also shape criminal justice policies and practices. Crime news influences prosecutorial and police decision making as well as community members’ fear of crime and support for punitive criminal justice policies (Boulahanis & Heltsley, 2004; Gruenewald et al, 2011; Phillips et al, 2012; Pritchard, 1986; Weiss et al, 1999; Welch, Payne, Chiricos, & Gertz, 2011). 4…”