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Capital Punishment Theory

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My theory is that race as the independent variable can affect the dependent variable of attitudes towards capital punishment in murder cases. I hypothesize that whites are more likely to be in favor of capital punishment in murder cases than black or those of any other race due to the attitude and though process of being tough on crime. While blacks and other races are more likely to oppose capital punishment in murder cases because they make up most of the prison population. For my first article “The Racial Divide in Support for the Death Penalty: Does White Racism Matter” The research question that are addressed in this article is why racist whites may be more likely to support capital punishment. The data being used is taken from the 2000 …show more content…

THE INTERSECTING IMPACT OF RACE AND GENDER ON ATTITUDES, 1974-2006” addresses the relationship between race, gender on attitudes toward capital punishment over time. The data being used is taken from the GSS from 1974-2006 examining any changes on attitudes of capital punishment. The sample for the study is a random sample of noninstitutionalized, English-speaking adults, aged 18 and older. This survey was conducted every year from 1972 to 1994, with the exception of 1979, 1981, and 1992, after 1994 the GSS has been conducted every other year. The dependent variable is "Do you favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder?" Responses are coded as (0) oppose or (1) favor. "Don 't know" responses were removed from the analysis. The major independent variables of the study are race and gender. Race is split up into 2 categories white which was given the value of 1 and black which was given the value of 0, the other category was removed from the study. Gender was broken up into two categories female given the value of 0 and male given the value of 1. The methods used in the study are cross-tabulations with chi-squares to determine if race and gender have a significant effect on attitudes towards capital punishment. The findings reveal that there is a significant relationship between race and views towards capital punishment. With white respondents at 72% and 48.8% being black. It was also found that Men were 78.1% more likely to support capital punishment than the 68.9% of

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