Public Attitudes towards the Death Penalty

Abstract

This review focuses on empirical studies which identify the factors that appear to shape – or at least correlate with – public attitudes to the death penalty. Some studies described in the review include public attitudes to punishment in general, where literature on the death penalty is limited or where more advances have been made. “Public attitudes to the death penalty” is treated as a sub-category of “public attitudes to punishment” because the death penalty is the most extreme form of existing punishment (Bobo & Johnson, 2004, pp. 158-159).

This chapter is a revised version of the report published by the Death Penalty Project in March 2013, titled: The Death Penalty in Japan. The full report is available from: http://content.yudu.com/A22nfv/DPP-Japan-Report/