Reexamining the effect of christian denominational affiliation on death penalty support

Wozniak, Kevin H.; Lewis, Andrew R.

doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2010.07.011

Cited by 29 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Evangelicals are consistently more punitive across each of the three metrics of social control, apart from black Protestants in cracking down on troublemakers. This finding is consistent with prior research on denominational differences in punitive ideologies (Baker ; Wozniak and Lewis ; Unnever and Cullen ). Further, I find that biblical literalism and religious fundamentalism significantly predict approval of social control measures, as do being southern or not, and self‐reported political views.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…1 When considering the application of formalized social control, an important question becomes: Who decides what behavior is worthy of sanctioning? Much of the work addressing this question has pointed to power differentials, as well as racial and religious group barriers, as key factors to consider (Alexander 2012;Britt 1998;Flores 2016;Grasmick et al 1992Grasmick et al , 1993Unnever, Cullen, and Bartkowski 2006;Wozniak and Lewis 2010). Studies reveal that even the most formalized social control measures (e.g., the application of capital punishment) are heavily dependent on perceived group threat, and differential values of homogeneity as a societal goal.…”

Section: Social Control and Punishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enforcing Christian Nationalism: Examining the Link Between Group Identity and Punitive Attitudes in the United States

Davis

2018

Scientific Study of Religion

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This article examines whether the convergence of an individual's religious and national identities promotes authoritarian attitudes towards crime and deviance. Drawing on theories of social control and group conformity, as well as Christian nationalism's influence on intolerance toward out‐groups, I argue that the inability to distinguish between religious and national identities increases desire for group homogeneity and therefore increases willingness to utilize formalized measures of social control. Analysis of 2007 Baylor Religion Survey data demonstrates that adherence to Christian nationalism predicts three indicators of authoritarian views toward controlling crime and deviance: support for capital punishment, stricter punishment for federal crime, and for society to “crackdown on troublemakers.” These effects are robust to the inclusion of a comprehensive battery of 20 socioeconomic, political, and religious controls, and are consistent with previous research on Christian nationalism showing it is not religious commitment or traditionalism per se that leads to intolerant attitudes, but rather the conflation of one's religious identity with other social identities, in this case national. These findings indicate that, beyond sociopolitical and religious influences, the belief that the United States is, and should be, a “Christian nation” increases desires for group conformity and strict control for both criminals and “troublemakers.”

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Social Control and Punishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enforcing Christian Nationalism: Examining the Link Between Group Identity and Punitive Attitudes in the United States

Davis

2018

Scientific Study of Religion

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“…Attitude toward capital punishment has been shown to be associated with several variables including race, gender, age, socio-cultural background, religiosity, job and training, general mental health, and emotion. These factors are among the main components of self (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). For example, both race and gender have been related with death penalty.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Gender, Majors, Religion and Mental Health Affect the Justified Death Attitude?

Zandian

Habibi

Seydi

et al. 2017

Iran J Psychiatry Behav Sci

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Background: Death penalty and euthanasia are disputed practices in the world. However, they are considered "justified" by their proponents. We newly developed a scale for assessment of the attitude toward justified death, which determines "hot cognition" using a number of scenarios. Objectives: This study aimed at assessing the effects of the major demographic items including gender, major, religion, and mental health on the justified death attitude. Methods: A total of 481 participants including 419 university students and 62 seminarians participated in the study in Tehran, Iran. The Persian versions of the justified death attitude scale and the general health questionnaire-12 were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using the multivariate analysis of variance. Results: Capital punishment was suggested more frequently for rape and drug trafficking and less frequently for murder, and infrequently for adultery. Men and religious subjects showed a more positive attitude toward execution. Furthermore, most of the subjects did not agree with euthanasia; surprisingly, active euthanasia was more acceptable than passive euthanasia. Finally, death penalty and euthanasia did not show an association with mental health. Conclusions: Individual characteristics like gender, major, and religiosity could significantly affect the attitude of people toward justified death. Further studies including neuropsychological methods are suggested.

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“…Bornstein and Miller (2009) suggest that people's religious characteristics (i.e., affiliations, beliefs, and orientations) are particularly relevant to capital juror decision-making. Although there are likely differences between religious affiliations (Bjarnason & Welch, 2004;Wozniak & Lewis, 2010), there are also differences within religious affiliations (e.g., Britt, 1998). It is possible that these differences between and within affiliations arise as a result of individual differences in specific religious beliefs.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Death penalty decision‐making: Fundamentalist beliefs and the evaluation of aggravating and mitigating circumstances

Yelderman

West

Miller

2018

Legal Criminol Psychol

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Purpose Jurors’ religious characteristics are related to death penalty attitudes and verdicts. Jurors’ religious characteristics might also relate to endorsements of aggravating circumstances (aggravators) and mitigating circumstances (mitigators)—factors that make a defendant more or less deserving of the death penalty, respectively. The purpose of this research was to assess the extent to which religious fundamentalism was related to endorsement and weighing of aggravators and mitigators and subsequent death penalty decisions while controlling for relevant religious and demographic characteristics. Methods Two studies were conducted. Study 1 included a regression analysis in which participants filled out religious and demographic measures via an online survey. In Study 2, participants acted as mock jurors in a death penalty trial in which the defendant was already found guilty. Mock jurors read the case facts and attorney arguments and then weighed aggravators and mitigators before recommending a sentence for the defendant. Results In Study 1, fundamentalism negatively predicted mitigator endorsement, intrinsic religiosity negatively predicted aggravator endorsement, and orthodoxy positively predicted aggravator endorsement. In Study 2, fundamentalism was related to death penalty sentences, and this was mediated by people's weighing of aggravators and mitigators. Specifically, fundamentalism was related to a lower likelihood of choosing a life sentence because fundamentalism was negatively related to weighing mitigators over aggravators. Conclusions Results support and explain prior research linking fundamentalism with punitiveness in death penalty cases. Such findings support the “eye for an eye” punishment philosophy associated with fundamentalist beliefs. Theoretical and legal implications are discussed.

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Reexamining the effect of christian denominational affiliation on death penalty support

Cited by 29 publications

References 52 publications

Enforcing Christian Nationalism: Examining the Link Between Group Identity and Punitive Attitudes in the United States

Enforcing Christian Nationalism: Examining the Link Between Group Identity and Punitive Attitudes in the United States

How Gender, Majors, Religion and Mental Health Affect the Justified Death Attitude?

Death penalty decision‐making: Fundamentalist beliefs and the evaluation of aggravating and mitigating circumstances

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