Age, Period, and Cohort Effects on Death Penalty Attitudes in the United States, 1974–2014

Abstract

In this article, we further the understanding of both changes in public opinion on capital punishment in the United States and changes in the factors associated with public opinion on the death penalty. Support for the death penalty may be motivated by events happening during specific time periods, and it can vary across birth cohorts as a result of cohort‐specific socialization processes, demographic changes, and formative events that are specific to each generation. An explication of the sources of and variation in death penalty attitudes over time would benefit from the accounting for the age of the respondent, the year of the survey response, and the birth cohort of the respondent. We improve on previous research by using multiple approaches including hierarchical age–period–cohort models and data from the General Social Survey (N = 41,474) to examine changes in death penalty attitudes over time and across birth cohorts. The results showed curvilinear age effects, strong period effects, and weak cohort effects on death penalty support. The violent crime rate explained much of the variation in support for the death penalty across periods. The examination of subgroup differences suggests that support for the death penalty is becoming concentrated among Whites, Protestants, and Republicans.

Who Controls Criminal Law? Racial Threat and the Adoption of State Sentencing Law, 1975 to 2012

“…I evaluate external validity by first comparing my estimates to national, state-level, over-time, and individual-level measures of punitive sentiment provided in prior studies, and then comparing the MRP estimates to state polling data. Consistent with prior studies (Anderson et al 2017;Ramirez 2013;Shi et al 2020), punitive policy support among the black and white publics exhibit similar over-time trends, rising in the 1970s and 1980s before ultimately declining after 1990 (see Figure 2). The over-time patterns are also consistent with Enns's (2014) reports of national punitive policy support, where punitiveness peaks in the mid-1980s and 1990s before declining.…”

“…Fortner (2015:9) forcefully made this case in reviewing New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws; he argues that "[a]fter tilting the discursive terrain in the direction of racial equality during the struggles of the civil rights movement, working-and middle-class African Americans tilted it in favor of punitive crime policies" (see also Foreman 2017). Indeed, public opinion research shows that punitive sentiment among white and black populations exhibited "parallel trends," with their support for tough crime policy rising and falling in tandem for both racial groups during mass incarceration (Anderson, Lytle, and Schwadel 2017;Ramirez 2013;Shi, Lu, and Pickett 2020).…”

Public support for the death penalty in a red state: The distrustful, the angry, and the unsure

“…There were no significant differences across groups in either year for worry about crime, confidence in the criminal justice system, Catholic, and crime victim. Demographically in both years, death penalty supporters were least likely to live in an urban setting, more likely to be male, had the lowest prevalence of a bachelor’s degree, and had the highest score on conservativism (Anderson et al., 2017).…”

“…Due to measurement limitations and theoretical inattention, little is known about who the unsures are and how they may differ from those respondents who have clearer opinions. Demographically, death penalty supporters, compared to non-supporters, tend to be men, White, older, and politically conservative (Anderson et al., 2017; Pew Research Center, 2015). Research has explored several factors contribute to individual attitudes about the death penalty and punitive sentiment more generally; as noted, such research typically excludes the unsures.…”

Predicting Israeli Public Support for Capital Punishment: Crime Type and Severity, Offender, Observer, and Victim Characteristics

“…In research on observer reactions, previous studies have examined participant characteristics and indicated that participant sociodemographic characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, age, and religiosity, are associated with their attitudes toward capital punishment. Men tend to express stronger support for capital punishment than women (e.g., Adinkrah & Clemens, 2018;Anderson et al, 2017;Godcharles et al, 2019). Ethnic minorities tend to oppose the death penalty more than ethnic majorities (Peshkopia & Stephen Voss, 2016;Unnever et al, 2008;Vollum & Buffington-Vollum, 2010).…”