Racial–ethnic Intolerance and Support for Capital Punishment: A Cross‐national Comparison*

Abstract

This article tests cross‐nationally the minority group threat thesis that public sentiments toward repressive crime‐control policies reflect conflicted racial and ethnic relations. Using multiple data sets representing France, Belgium, the Netherlands, East and West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Canada, Ireland, and Portugal, we examine whether racial and ethnic intolerance—animus, resentments, or negative sentiments toward minorities—predicts greater support for the death penalty. Our results reveal that the respondents were significantly more likely to express support for capital punishment if they were racially or ethnically intolerant while controlling for other covariates of public opinion. These findings indicate that the link between support for capital punishment and racial and ethnic animus may occur universally in countries with conflicted racial and ethnic relations.

Predicting Punitive Attitudes: Racial-Animus towards New Immigrant and Aboriginal Minority Groups as a Mediating Agent upon Public Crime Concerns

“…Kornhauser (2013) examined data obtained from a sample of 998 respondents who completed the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA) (2005) (Wilson, Gibson, Meagher, Denemark, & Western, 2006). Kornhauser's results support international findings that racial animus towards immigrants, significantly predicts support for punitive attitudes (Unnever & Cullen, 2010a). …”

“…In the USA, a content analysis of the news presented on three television stations in Florida, revealed that Hispanics were more likely to appear as criminal suspects (Chiricos & Eschhalz, 2002). Media coverage is a contributing factor to cotemporary negative perceptions of the Muslim community (Abdalla & Rane, 2008), and there is growing public association of "immigrant others" with crime (Unnever & Cullen, 2010a). Findings from the present study, although exploratory, lend support for the theory that crime has largely been typified as an "out group" phenomenon (Chiricos et al, 2004).…”

Reconsidering predictors of punitiveness in Australia: A test of four theories

“…Unnever and Cullen, 2010a) that the racial animus explanation applies cross-nationally, here in relation to animus towards migrants in Australia. Respondents who scored highly on the Anti-immigrant Sentiment index were more likely to support both measures of punitiveness.…”

The Electronic Pillory: Social Time and Hostility Toward Capital Murderers

“…This body of empirical inquiry provides valuable insights into the social and psychological correlates of support for capital punishment not just in America but other countries as well (see, e.g., Unnever and Cullen ). However, it does not address variation at the case level.…”