The Racial Divide in Support for the Death Penalty: Does White Racism Matter?

Unnever, James D.; Cullen, Francis T.

doi:10.1353/sof.2007.0058

Cited by 145 publications

(184 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…For instance, blacks are more likely to question the legitimacy of the criminal justice system and hold less punitive attitudes relative to whites (Bobo and Johnson 2004;Peffley and Hurwitz 2010;Unnever and Cullen 2007). Blacks are also more likely than whites to anchor their opinions toward criminal justice policies in their beliefs about the unfairness of the criminal justice system (Johnson 2007;Peffley and Hurwitz 2010) and crime conditions (Bobo and Johnson 2004;Johnson 2007Johnson , 2008.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial Discrimination, Fear of Crime, and Variability in Blacks’ Preferences for Punitive and Preventative Anti-crime Policies

Ramirez

2014

Polit Behav

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A growing body of research recognizes that people's policy opinions are not simply positive or negative, but instead derive from a variety of positive and negative beliefs related to a political issue. This research expands this insight by explaining the variability in support for punitive anti-crime policies among black Americans. Data from a nationally representative survey of black Americans (n = 515) are used to show that a majority of blacks are conflicted between a strong desire to reduce crime and perceptions of widespread racial discrimination within the criminal justice system. Using a heteroskedastic item response theory model, I demonstrate that conflict between these beliefs results in far greater variability around their support for punitive, but not preventative policies. Both the conflict and variability of many black Americans' preferences on punitive anti-crime policies complicates their ability to clearly voice their support for or opposition toward punitive policies and likely limits the ability of elected officials to represent members of this community.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial Discrimination, Fear of Crime, and Variability in Blacks’ Preferences for Punitive and Preventative Anti-crime Policies

Ramirez

2014

Polit Behav

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“…Following the lead of Unnever and Cullen (Social Forces 85:1281-1301, 2007a, this research explores whether racist sentiment and core values (individualism, egalitarianism, symbolic patriotism, and authoritarianism) can partially explain the racial divide in public support for capital punishment. The findings suggest that racist sentiment by Whites and belief in core values by Whites partially explains the racial divide in support for capital punishment.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, these findings cannot determine whether racist sentiment can partially account for the difference in support for capital punishment between Whites and African-Americans. Unnever and Cullen (2007a) recently sought to rectify this problem with the prior research. Their study explores whether White racist sentiment could account for differences between Whites and African-Americans on support for capital punishment in a study that uses White and African-American respondents.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial Differences in Public Support for the Death Penalty: Can Racist sentiment and Core Values Explain the Racial Divide?

Buckler¹,

Davila²,

Salinas³

2008

Am J Crim Just

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Prior research has established a strong and enduring "racial divide" in support for capital punishment, but little research has explored the processes that explain the racial divide. Following the lead of Unnever and Cullen (Social Forces 85:1281-1301, 2007a, this research explores whether racist sentiment and core values (individualism, egalitarianism, symbolic patriotism, and authoritarianism) can partially explain the racial divide in public support for capital punishment. The findings suggest that racist sentiment by Whites and belief in core values by Whites partially explains the racial divide in support for capital punishment.

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“…To the extent that public opinion affects criminal justice policy, this body of evidence further supports critical criminology's assumption of the oppressive nature of the criminal justice system and demonstrates that such policy violates the ideals of a democratic society (Barkan and Cohn 2005;Unnever and Cullen 2007).…”

Section: Quantitative Support For Critical Criminologymentioning

confidence: 65%

“…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: 99%

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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The Racial Divide in Support for the Death Penalty: Does White Racism Matter?

Cited by 145 publications

References 63 publications

Racial Discrimination, Fear of Crime, and Variability in Blacks’ Preferences for Punitive and Preventative Anti-crime Policies

Racial Discrimination, Fear of Crime, and Variability in Blacks’ Preferences for Punitive and Preventative Anti-crime Policies

Racial Differences in Public Support for the Death Penalty: Can Racist sentiment and Core Values Explain the Racial Divide?

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

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