Project Director

Bellar, Stephanie

Department

Dept. of Political Science, Public Administration, and Nonprofit Management

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

In this research, I will examine public opinion on the death penalty from 1972 to the present. In doing so, I will show that as the awareness of violence and crime increases, support for the death penalty increases. I intend by the consideration of prevalent trends and ideas over the past twenty-five years to show that awareness of crime and prejudice against ethnic groups traditionally associated with crime often dictates public opinion of the death penalty. As these tendencies become more apparent, it will become clear that the Supreme Court's confidence in mitigating and aggravating factors are not entirely valid, and that the decisions rendered by a capital jury are often affected by perceived crime more than any rational consideration of mitigating or aggravating factors.

Degree

B. S.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Date

3-1997

Subject

Capital punishment--United States; Punishment in crime deterrence

Discipline

American Politics

Document Type

Theses

Extent

i, 72 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.5 .E774 1997

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Download

Share

COinS