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Abstract

Research indicates a significant, positive relationship between racial prejudice and death penalty support among white people. The racist punitive bias hypothesis has been proposed as a possible explanation for this relationship, indicating that racially prejudiced people might be more supportive of the death penalty because they perceive minority individuals to be criminal and, therefore, more likely to be subject to the punishment. This study attempted to test the validity of the racist punitive bias hypothesis using or with a convenience sample of U.S. residents. Path and regression analyses indicated a link between racial prejudice and white death penalty support, but did not support the racist punitive bias hypothesis. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords

Race death penalty sentencing prejudice ethnicity

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Racism and white death penalty support

Abstract

Keywords

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