Public Opinion of Capital Punishment: An Intersectional Analysis of Race, Gender, and Class Effects

• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Author: Brooke Nodeland,Adam Trahan,Andrekus Dixon
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016818818687
• Date: 01 December 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Public Opinion of Capital

Punishment: An Intersectional

Analysis of Race, Gender,

and Class Effects

Adam Trahan

1

, Andrekus Dixon

1

, and Brooke Nodeland

1

Abstract

Extant research on the demographic correlates of capital punishment opinion has separately ana-

lyzed race, gender, and class. Intersectionality has shown a flaw of this approach is that these

characteristics overlap and interact to shape people’s identities and opinions. Using data from the

Cumulative File of the General Social Survey (1972–2016), we regressed capital punishment opinion

on respondents’ race, gender, and class intersections. Findings show wide variation in opposition to

capital punishment. Implications of the findings, including the superiority of the intersectional

approach, are discussed.

Keywords

capital punishment opinion, intersections, race, gender, class

Capital punishment endures in the United States in large part because a majority of Americans

continue to support the practice. Data from the 2016 Gallup poll show 60%of respondents supported

and 37%opposed capital punishment (Jones, 2016). Bohm (2014) outlined five ways in which

public opinion buoys the death penalty system. First, legislators are generally averse to taking action

that is antithetical to the preferences of their constituents. Second, local prosecutors feel pressure to

file charges that will assuage the citizenry. Third, trial and appellate-court judges likewise feel

pressure to deliver rulings that are politically popular. Fourth, governors often choose whether to

veto death penalty legislation based on the preferences of their constituents. Fifth, justices in state

and federal courts can rely on the “evolving standards of decency” in deciding whether death penalty

laws violate the Eighth Amendment. In two recent landmark Supreme Court cases, the majority

relied on extensive analyses of public opinion in deciding to abolish capital punishment for the

mentally retarded (Atkins v. Virginia, 2002) and juveniles (Roper v. Simmons, 2005).

An issue of concern, however, is that the American public is not homogenous in its attitudes

toward capital punishment. Studies have shown, over time and across different method ological

1

University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Adam Trahan, Department of Criminal Justice, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle, Denton, TX 76203, USA.

Email: adam.trahan@unt.edu

Criminal Justice Review

2019, Vol. 44(4) 452-469

ª2018 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/0734016818818687

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designs, that support and opposition to the death penalty are concentrated among certain identifiable

groups. Supporters of capital punishment are disproportionately White (Bobo & Johnson, 2004;

Cochran & Chamlin, 2006; Johnson, 2001), male (Cochran & Sanders, 2009; Robbers, 2006; Stack,

2000), protestant (Grasmick & McGill, 1994; Young, 1992), politically conservative (Longmire,

1996; Young, 1991, 1992), married (Bohm, 2014; Fox, Radelet, & Bonst eel, 1990–1991), and

undereducated. Such findings led Unnever and Cullen (2007a, p. 125) to assert that legislators,

governors, and justices who have affirmed the death penalty based on the supposed attitudes of the

majority have, in fact, “represented the sentiments of White America” and disregarded opposition

among minority groups.

Demographic variations in capital punishment opinion have been well established. However,

exploring group-level variation in the manner of extant research still fails to capture the actual

variation of death penalty opinion. Blacks are not themselves homogenous nor are women or the

educated, and there is certainly variation of death penalty opinions within each group. Consider, for

example, the sizable literature on race and capital punishment opinion. This research shows that

levels of support for capital punishment are approximately 30 percentage points lower for Blacks

than Whites (Bohm, 2014; Dugan, 2015; Fox et al., 1990–1991). While there is no reason to doubt

the veracity of these findings in the aggregate, they fail to capture the nuances within different racial

groups. For instance, a significant proportion of Blacks are, of course, men. We know that, in the

aggregate, men are more likely to support capital punishment than women (see Bohm, 2014). This

begs the question, “what about Black men?” Does being a male, which is associated with higher

rates of death penalty support, counterbalance the lower levels of support observed among Blacks? If

so, do rates of support among Black men resemble those of White women? Our history of isolating

these characteristics in statistical models has left these questions unanswered.

Our custom of studying race, class, gender, and other demographic characteristics separately has

left us with a dearth of information to determine the actual variation of capital punishment opinion in

the United States. Except for a few studies, we know nothing of how capital punishment opinion may

vary across different intersections of race, gender, and class. The study presented here was designed

to fill this gap in the empirical record. Using data from the General Social Survey (GSS), we classify

respondents into categories representing the combination of their race, gender, and education to act

as a measure of class. Capital punishment opinions are then regressed on the intersection of respon-

dents’ race, gender, education, and standard control variables to assess differences in support and

opposition across each group. This investigation reveals significant variation in capital punishment

opinions across social groups and differences in the ways that race, class, and gender interact to

shape attitudes toward the ultimate sanction.

Literature

Race

Race is the strongest extant correlate of capital punishment opinion. It is a more potent predictor of

capital punishment support and opposition than any other variable tested to date. With few excep-

tions (see Mallicoat & Brown, 2008), research on race and capital punishment opinion has focused

on differences between Blacks and Whites. Findings show that Blacks are far more likely than

Whites to oppose capital punishment. Gallup polls that most recently report data on race show 68%

of Whites favored capital punishment, compared to 39%of Blacks (Dugan, 2015). Such a sizable

racial divide has been observed over time and across different methodological designs. Fox, Radelet,

and Bonsteel (1990–1991) analyzed race differences in death penalty opinion across 15 iterations of

the GSS from 1972 to 1988. White support for the death penalty was significantly higher than Black

support in each iteration of the survey, with an average difference of 30 percentage points. Bohm

Trahan et al. 453