Research Note: The Death Sentence and Inmate Attitudes

1992 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis J. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Violent Crime ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Violent Offenders ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Death Sentence ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys

Public opinion surveys show that the American public favors capital punishment. This article examines the attitudes of 307 inmates about capital punishment. The respondents, especially the most violent offenders, favored capital punishment for some crimes when applied to others, but not to their own criminal activity. Moreover, they did not see capital punishment as a deterrent and implied that it reinforces their violent perspectives. Incarcerated offenders apparently feel as strongly as other citizens about capital punishment, but perhaps for different reasons. The findings suggest that additional studies be conducted with violent offenders to determine if any punishment can deter violent crime.

A Case Study of Chinese Netizens’ Opinions on Capital Punishment: Diversity, Rationale, and Interaction

Modern China ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 666-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhong Liu ◽  
Bin Liang
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Death Sentence ◽  
Capital Case ◽  
Poisoning Case ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Survey Designs ◽  
Chinese Public

Empirical studies of Chinese public opinion on capital punishment are very rare. Almost all past studies suffered from questionable survey designs and/or nonrepresentative/nonrandom sampling (e.g., student samples). In this study, to examine the breadth and the depth of public opinion on capital punishment, we turn to Chinese netizens’ opinions online on a particular capital case, the Lin Senhao poisoning case. Though our netizen sample has its own limitations, it is innovative and encompasses a broader group of representations than in past studies. Specifically, we address three questions: the diversity of netizens’ opinions, the rationales for netizens’ support for Lin’s death sentence, and netizens’ interactions. This study is the first to examine Chinese netizens’ opinions in a capital case in detail and to uncover potential complexities and nuances of such opinions.

Has Anyone Seen It?

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Radin ◽  
Aleksandar Džakula
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys ◽  
Health Care Performance ◽  
Policy Arena ◽  
Care Performance

Over the past decade, public opinion surveys have shown that Croats are deeply dissatisfied with their health care system and asses it to be one of the most important issues. However, health care hardly makes it into any political discourse in Croatia. This study analyzes the results of a public opinion survey conducted before the 2007 parliamentary elections to find out what the public sentiment on health care performance in Croatia is and to analyze the reasons why health care is not addressed by political actors. Evidence suggests that while health care is the most salient issue today, the public often understands it poorly. Thus, in a political environment of competing issues, and given the complexity of tacking health care in the policy arena, politicians strategically avoid discussing the issue.

Two Countries, Five Years: Islam in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan through the Lens of Public Opinion Surveys

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Junisbai ◽  
Azamat Junisbai ◽  
Baurzhan Zhussupov
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Religious Revival ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys ◽  
Daily Prayer ◽  
Cross National

Drawing on two waves of public opinion surveys conducted in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, we investigate the rise in religiosity and orthodoxy among Central Asian Muslims. We confirm that a religious revival is underway, with nearly 100 percent of Kazakhstani and Kyrgyzstani Muslims self-identifying as such in 2012—up from 80 percent in Kazakhstan in 2007. If we dig a bit deeper, however, we observe cross-national variations. Religious practice, as measured by daily prayer and weekly mosque attendance, is up in Kyrgyzstan, but has fallen in Kazakhstan. While the share of those who express preferences associated with religious orthodoxy has grown in both, this group has more than doubled in Kazakhstan. We attribute these differences to political context, both in terms of cross-national political variation and, within each country, variation based on regional differences.

The Use of the Death Penalty

1969 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter C. Reckless
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Death Sentence ◽  
Dramatic Reduction ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Discernible Effect ◽  
The World ◽  
Important Trend

Undoubtedly the most important trend in capital punishment has been the dramatic reduction in the number of offenses statutorily punishable by the death penalty. About two hundred years ago England had over two hundred offenses calling for the death penalty; it now has four. Some countries have abolished capital punishment completely; a few retain it for unusual offenses only. The trend throughout the world, even in the great number of countries that retain the death penalty, is definitely toward a de facto, not a de jure, form of abolition. In the United States, where the death penalty is possible in three-fourths of the states, the number of executions has declined from 199 in 1935 to an average of less than three in the last four years. This change is related to public sentiment against the use of the death penalty and even more directly to the unwillingness of juries and courts to impose a first-degree sentence. The increasing willingness of governors to commute a death sentence and of courts to hear appeals also contributes to this decline. A review of the evidence indicates that use of the death penalty has no discernible effect on the commission of capital offenses (especially murder).

scholarly journals The Accumulation Effect

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raivo Palmaru
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys ◽  
Accumulation Effect ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Media ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Prevailing View

Abstract Although numerous studies over the past 20 years have revealed a clear connection between content analysis statistics and the results of public opinion surveys, the media’s “minimal effects” hypothesis still remains the overwhelmingly prevailing view. Among other things, it is not clear which of the two influences the other: Do people’s political preferences influence the media or do the media influence people’s preferences? In order to test this, the results of the 1999 and 2003 general elections and the 2002 local elections in Estonia, as well as the results of current public opinion surveys, were compared to the coverage given to the campaigning parties in the largest Estonian newspapers. The analysis showed that the coverage of political parties in the print media, as determined by the frequency of valuative notations, described the election results to a great extent. It is noteworthy that a change in media content was followed by a change in public opinion. At the same time, an accumulation effect became obvious: The voters’ preferences for political parties accumulated diachronically during the course of several weeks based on the information that was available to them.

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