Capital punishment: Arguments for life and death.

Abstract

Despite capital punishment having been abolished in Canada 20 years ago, the majority of Canadians continue to favour the death penalty as a sentencing option. In this study, a 2 x 6 design was employed to investigate the effects that argument position (for or against the death penalty) and type of justification for punishment (deterrence, morality, rehabilitation, incapacitation, economic, and possibility of mistake) have on participants' sentence recommendations for a defendant found guilty of first degree murder. Results indicated that only those arguments in favour of the death penalty, based on retribution, economics, and impossibility of mistake, were effective in influencing participants to recommend that the accused be sentenced to death. Compared to participants who recommended a life sentence, those who recommended the death penalty were found to have significantly higher scores on a measure of vengeance.

Some Sex Differences in Sentencing Severity for a Mock Crime Scenario

“…In this experiment, like the first, belief in the death penalty was not measured, and there was no significant sex dfference in noncapital sentencing. Also, although neither study showed a sex difference for likelihood of recommending capital punishment, men were harsher here, which is consistent with other research (2,8).…”