Punitive Attitudes toward Criminals: Racial Consensus or Racial Conflict?

Cohn, Steven F.; Barkan, Steven E.; Halteman, William A.

doi:10.2307/800534

Cited by 101 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…While several studies had already shown that racially prejudiced people were more supportive of the death sentence (Aguirre et al, 1993;Barkan et al, 1994;Cohn et al, 1991;Ford, 1997;Soss et al, 2003;Stack, 2000), the processes underlying this relationship were relatively unknown. Results of the present research confirm the robustness of this relationship and also provide some explanation for it.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…It would thus seem that levels of authoritarianism are not sufficient to explain this relationship. Cohn et al (1991) have proposed another explanation for the relationship between racial prejudice and support for the death penalty. They suggest that the punitive attitudes of White people towards criminals are a reflection of the White groupÕs prejudice toward stigmatized minorities.…”

Section: On the Relationship Between Racial Prejudice And Support Formentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In the 1 United States, many studies have revealed that race is a significant predictor of capital punishment, with Blacks being treated more unfairly than Whites (Amnesty USA, 2001;Gross and Mauro, 1989;Paternoster, 1983). Several authors have postulated that racial prejudice is a likely predictor of racial disparities in the application of death sentences (Cohn et al, 1991;Ford, 1997). Many studies have found that the greater the racial prejudice among Whites, the greater the support for the death penalty (Aguirre and Baker, 1993;Barkan and Cohn, 1994;Ford, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Understanding the Relationship Between Racial Prejudice and Support for the Death Penalty: The Racist Punitive Bias Hypothesis

Dambrun

2007

Soc Just Res

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Many studies have shown that there are significant racial disparities in the application of death penalties. In this paper, three studies (N = 484, 94% female), conducted in France, test and explore why racial prejudice and support for the death penalty (SDP) are strongly and positively related. First, prejudice against Arabs remains a significant predictor of SDP, even when ethnocentrism/authoritarianism (Study 1) and Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA; Study 2) are statistically controlled. Second, the attribution of criminal traits to Arabs (Study 1) or criminality-based prejudice (Studies 2 and 3) significantly mediates the relationship between racial prejudice and SDP. Finally, a path analysis illustrates that two relatively independent processes could explain the relationship between prejudice towards Arabs and SDP: criminality-based prejudice leading to specific SDP for Arabs and Social Dominance Orientation (Study 3). Together, these results provide support for the racist punitive bias hypothesis. When racist people think about questions of crime and punishment, they frame the issue in racial terms, leading them to support a punitive law which in their minds will mainly punish minority racial groups.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: On the Relationship Between Racial Prejudice And Support Formentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Understanding the Relationship Between Racial Prejudice and Support for the Death Penalty: The Racist Punitive Bias Hypothesis

Dambrun

2007

Soc Just Res

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“…Using both national and regional data, this work shows that racial prejudice among whites is associated net of other factors with greater support for harsher sentencing of convicted defendants, for the death penalty, for the unjustified use of violent force by police against suspects, and for increases in government spending to fight crime (Aguirre and Baker 1993;Cohn 1994, 1998;Baumer et al 2003;Chiricos et al 2004;Cohn et al 1991;Jacobs and Carmichael 2002;Johnson 2001Johnson , 2008Soss et al 2003;Unnever and Cullen 2007). As one study of death penalty opinion concluded, White support for the death penalty in the United States has strong ties to anti-black prejudice.…”

Section: Quantitative Support For Critical Criminologymentioning

confidence: 96%

The Value of Quantitative Analysis for a Critical Understanding of Crime and Society

Barkan

2009

Crit Crim

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The value of quantitative analysis for a critical understanding of crime and society has often been questioned. This paper joins the debate by reviewing quantitative evidence on key criminological topics: the causes of crime, public opinion on crime, and the operation and impact of the criminal justice system. This evidence highlights the importance of economic deprivation and racial prejudice and discrimination for understanding U.S. crime and justice and points to the ineffectiveness of the nation's ''get tough'' approach to crime control. In these ways, quantitative analysis has already bolstered central propositions in critical criminology and promises to continue to do so.Quantitative analysis hardly needs defending. It dominates the discipline of criminology, having characterized 73.1% of the articles published in five leading criminology journals (including 81% of the articles in the leading journal, Criminology) from 1998 through 2002 (Tewksbury et al. 2005). Although the extent of quantitative work does vary by journal (Tewksbury et al. 2005), its importance in criminology and related disciplines is obvious.Despite or perhaps because of this fact, quantitative analysis has long been criticized for several shortcomings. It has been charged with being, among other things, arcane, atheoretical, anti-humanistic, hierarchical, superficial, inherently conservative, and antithetical to a critical understanding of crime and society (Cicourel

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“…Moreover, these positive feelings tend to be based in racial prejudice (Cohn, Barkan, and Halteman 1991;Unnever, Cullen and Jones 2008). Furthermore, research has even shown that police officers are more likely to use force when it appears that the citizen has a lower social status than they or "[was] not perceived as important," namely those who are Black or Latinx or under the age of 30 (Alpert, Dunham and MacDonald 2004: 483).…”

Section: Race Difference and Perceptions Of Police Misconductmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strike More, Spend Less?: The Correlation between Opinions on Race Specific Government Spending and Feelings towards Police Use of Force

Irby¹

2017

Preprint

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With the foundation of past research on the relationship between indicators of racial prejudice, police use of force and attitudes towards it, I use the General Social Survey (2016) to examine the relationship between feelings on government spending on the Black community and approval of police officers striking an adult male citizen under different circumstances. Using feelings towards government spending on the Black community as an independent variable enables me to interpret the coded and implicit anti-Black sentiments within police practices and approval towards them further. After analyzing a sample of 704 respondents, I found that those who believe that the government is spending too much on the Black community are more likely to approve of a police officer striking an adult male citizen under various circumstances. However, the results of the bivariate correlation and multivariate regression consistently demonstrate that the race of the respondent had the largest effect on respondent's approval of police officers striking citizens, with white respondents being more likely to approve of officers striking citizens under more conditions. These results are consistent with critical race theory, group threat theory and past research; it is pivotal in understanding how color-blind racism effects the extent to which police are held accountable for their actions.

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Punitive Attitudes toward Criminals: Racial Consensus or Racial Conflict?

Cited by 101 publications

References 28 publications

Understanding the Relationship Between Racial Prejudice and Support for the Death Penalty: The Racist Punitive Bias Hypothesis

Understanding the Relationship Between Racial Prejudice and Support for the Death Penalty: The Racist Punitive Bias Hypothesis

The Value of Quantitative Analysis for a Critical Understanding of Crime and Society

Strike More, Spend Less?: The Correlation between Opinions on Race Specific Government Spending and Feelings towards Police Use of Force

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