Death qualification and prejudice: the effect of implicit racism, sexism, and homophobia on capital defendants' right to due process

Abstract

Two hundred venirepersons from the 12th Judicial Circuit in Bradenton, Florida completed the following measures: (1) one question that measured their level of support for the death penalty; (2) one question that categorized their death-qualification status; (3) 23 questions that measured their attitudes toward the death penalty (ATDP); (4) 22 questions that assessed their attitudes toward women (ATW); (5) 25 questions that measured their level of homophobia (H); (6) seven questions that assessed their level of modern racism (MR); (7) eight questions that measured their level of modern sexism (MS); and (8) standard demographic questions. Results indicated that as death-penalty support increased participants exhibited more positive attitudes toward the death penalty, more negative attitudes toward women, and higher levels of homophobia, modern racism, and modern sexism. Findings also suggested that death-qualified venirepersons exhibited more positive attitudes toward the death penalty and higher levels of homophobia, modern racism, and modern sexism. Finally, more positive attitudes toward the death penalty were correlated with more negative attitudes toward women and higher levels of homophobia, modern racism, and modern sexism. Legal implications are discussed.

The influence of mitigation evidence, ethnicity, and SES on death penalty decisions by European American and Latino venire persons.

“…Some research has indicted that European Americans' racial prej udice is linked to favorable death penalty attitudes (Butler, 2007;Young, 2004), but little is known regarding how racial prejudice would interact with mitigating factors to predict juror bias in death penalty cases.…”

Statistical techniques for juror and jury research

“…When the research is about finding liability and then making an award we feel this is conceptually more similar to the two-step hurdle model. In research on capital cases, the zero-inflated models may be more appropriate because there are people who are unwilling to murder someone under any circumstance (and these people are often excluded from both stages of the judicial process, creating biases, Butler, 2007). Of course, many judicial processes require jurors go through more than two steps.…”

“…The zero‐inflated models might be better suited for capital trial decision making. There may be two distinct classes of people: those unwilling ever to murder somebody (i.e., to vote for execution) and those willing to murder another person during certain situations (Butler, 2007; Kadane, 1983).…”

Death Qualification as Systematic Exclusion of Jurors With Certain Religious and Other Characteristics

“…This is particularly troubling when considered in context with studies on death qualification and prejudice. A recent study found that death‐qualified individuals showed more prejudice in terms of homophobia, modern racism, and modern sexism (Butler, 2007a). If death qualification more often excludes minorities and women, and includes individuals who are more likely to be prejudiced against minorities and women, this could seriously impact the due‐process rights of the defendant.…”