NCJ Number
232458
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 38 Issue: 5 Dated: September/October 2010 Pages: 862-869
Date Published
September 2010
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Many nations impose the death penalty, yet most of the literature on capital punishment has focused on Western nations, particularly the United States. China and Japan are two retentionist nations. Based on the data collected in 2005, this study examined the level of death penalty support and views on capital punishment among college students from China, Japan, and the United States.
Abstract
It was found that Chinese respondents reported the highest level of death penalty support, followed by Japanese and U.S. students. Respondents from China and Japan were more likely to believe in the deterrence value of capital punishment than their U.S. counterparts. Views on retribution differed among the respondents. U.S. students were most likely to feel that innocent people are sentenced to death. In multivariate analyses, deterrence was the strongest correlate of death penalty views among Chinese and Japanese respondents, followed closely by retribution. For both Chinese and Japanese students, the barbarity of government taking the life of a person was the strongest predictor for opposing the death penalty. For U.S. respondents, retribution was the strongest reason for supporting capital punishment and the barbarity of executions was the strongest reason for opposing the death penalty. Tables, notes, and references (Published Abstract)