Innocence and its Impact on the Public
Lynch, Rachel
Lynch, Rachel
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2024-12-18
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Abstract
The "Innocence Movement" has sparked a debate regarding the efficacy and reliability of the American justice system. In recent years, exonerations of death row inmates and incarcerated persons has become more frequent and more heavily publicized. During the same time frame, public opinion regarding capital punishment has become more negative. Previous scholarly literature focusing on the relationship between exonerations and public support of capital punishment has largely established that exonerations decrease public opinion for the practice. However, the literature diverges when discussing causal factors such as framing effects and the way information is presented. Thus, this research explores how the type of information delivery regarding exonerations, being informal or formal, impacts public support for the death penalty. Additionally, this research focuses on the type of exoneration, based on DNA evidence or procedural concerns, and how that impacts public opinion on capital punishment. It is hypothesized that article style delivery and DNA based evidence, compared to meme style delivery and procedural based evidence, will cause the most pronounced decrease in public support for the death penalty. This study was performed using an experimental survey, employing one control group and four treatment groups; an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression statistical test was performed to analyze the data gathered. The findings of this research show that article style delivery does result in a more pronounced decrease in public support for capital punishment than the more informal, meme style delivery. However, the implications of this study indicate that the type of exoneration, DNA based or procedural based, does not have a statistically significant impact on public opinion regarding the death penalty. Contributing to the development of scholarly research surrounding capital punishment and public sentiment, this research illuminates the impact of information delivery on public opinion.
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Subject
Death penalty
capital punishment
exonerations
capital punishment
exonerations