Does Really One in Ten Believe Capital Punishment Exists in a Contemporary European Community Country? An Endorsed, Prereviewed, Preregistered Replication Study and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background Till et al. (2016) reported that in an Austrian sample approximately one in ten respondents incorrectly believed that Austria still practices, or recently practiced, the death penalty, and that there is a positive association between the amount of weekly television viewing and this gross misperception of the Austrian justice system. Methods An endorsed, prereviewed, preregistered close ( N = 597) served to test the veracity of these reported effects. This was coupled with the conceptual extension part, which (a) investigated the potential influence of watching American crime series, (b) accounted for further possible confounds, and (c) tested the generalizability of the effect of television viewing to online streaming. Results Online survey data ( N = 597) replicated the one-in-ten prevalence of incorrect answers with the 5-item death penalty questionnaire used in the original study, but not, when asking directly about Austria’s death penalty practices (prevalence: 0.3%). Younger age, but not the amount of television viewing or online streaming, suggestibility, or preferred TV genre consistently predicted incorrect answers in the death penalty questionnaire. Incorrect answers were Mokken-scalable (i.e., formed a common scale, complying with a non-parametric item response model) and were highly consistent. In contrast to the replication study results, a small meta-analysis of all available evidence (three studies, including the present replication) suggested that the aggregate effect of television viewing nominally was significant, albeit small. Conclusion The replication study yielded mixed results, which indicate the perception of a high prevalence of beliefs that there is capital punishment in a country without death penalty probably is due to a faultily designed questionnaire and thus a research artifact. Also, positive associations of television viewing with such beliefs likely are only small at best.

The Relationship Between Crime-Related Television Viewing and Perceptions of the Death Penalty: Results of a Large Cross-Sectional Survey Study

“…In the current study, we have revised the measure of television viewing and added an additional measure for watching US crime shows based on previous recommendations (Boch et al, 2019). We found that watching US crime shows predicted confusion about the death penalty, which is consistent with a genre-specific cultivation effect (Grabe and Drew, 2007;Bilandzic and Busselle, 2008;Lee and Niederdeppe, 2010).…”

“…Therefore, the current study does not provide supporting evidence for an overall across-the-board cultivation effect. The revision of the measures for television viewing in the current study based on recommendations by Boch et al (2019) may have increased their precision and robustness compared to the previous studies. The explicit instruction for respondents to include the use of DVDs, online streaming, and over-thetop media platforms into their estimate for television viewing and US crime show use may explain the differences between the current work and previous studies (Truong, 2011;Till et al, 2016;Boch et al, 2019).…”

“…The revision of the measures for television viewing in the current study based on recommendations by Boch et al (2019) may have increased their precision and robustness compared to the previous studies. The explicit instruction for respondents to include the use of DVDs, online streaming, and over-thetop media platforms into their estimate for television viewing and US crime show use may explain the differences between the current work and previous studies (Truong, 2011;Till et al, 2016;Boch et al, 2019). Till et al (2016) and Truong (2011) did not assess the use of DVDs, online streaming, and over-the-top media platforms, whereas Boch et al (2019) assessed and analyzed it separately from television viewing.…”

“…There was also no association between the amount of US crime show use and the dichotomized death penalty sum score (associations between watching US crime shows and the individual death penalty items were not reported). Despite reporting a small, but significant positive association between television viewing and perceptions of the death penalty in their preliminary meta-analytic evaluation of findings from their own and the two previous studies (Truong, 2011;Till et al, 2016;Boch et al, 2019), and despite cultivation research generally reporting small associations and effects (but still socially meaningful because of their cumulative nature) (Shrum and Lee, 2012;Morgan et al, 2015), Boch et al (2019) argued that the correlative findings may be "a research artifact." Boch et al (2019) also highlighted a lack of assessment of preferences for US crime shows and information related to less traditional forms of television viewing (e.g., online streaming or DVDs) as short-comings of previous research, and they recommended using a traditional sum score ranging from 0 to 5 to measure respondents' perceptions of the death penalty (instead of assessing each item individually or using a dichotomized sum score) for future research.…”

“…Watching US Crime Shows Consistent with Boch et al (2019), the weekly amount of watched US crime shows was assessed using two questions with an openresponse format. Respondents were asked to report the average number of hours of US crime shows (including DVDs, online streaming, and over-the-top media platforms) they watch on a typical weekday (Monday to Thursday) and on a typical weekend days (Friday to Sunday).…”