The Relationship between Attitudes toward Capital Punishment and Assignment of the Death Penalty

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Abstract

Questionnaires concerning attitude toward capital punishment, liberalism-conservatism, and the assignment of penalties in 13 capital cases were administered to 190 college students. All scales correlated significantly with each other, with Ss who were opposed to capital punishment less likely to assign the death penalty in specific cases. Factor analysis showed separate factors for murderers, assassins, attitudes and demographic data. The relationship of these findings to the Witherspoon case is discussed.