This slideshare presentation describes the results of an experiment that uses an online survey to find the association between agreeing with certain misconceptions about capital punishment and support for its use in the US today. Respondents were asked to report how much they opposed or supported the death penalty and how much they agreed or disagreed with certain misconceptions which were presented as facts. Results show that every stated misconception predicts support for capital punishment, with the statements “The death penalty serves as an effective deterrent to potential violent criminals” and “The death penalty is more cost efficient than a life sentence” predicting the greatest support. As both these statements are false, this study concludes that many who support the death penalty are influenced by false information. The survey also asks participants to view a passage that claims to be from the New York Times and opposes their expressed attitude towards capital punishment; respondents were then asked how the passage changed their opinion. Over one third of respondents changed their stance on a misconception after reading the passage. This change indicates that there is a strong media influence on participants and that participants are willing to change their minds when reading information they believe is credible.

1. Informed or Influenced?
Effects of Misconceptions in Media on American
Perception of Capital Punishment
Kayla Boling
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

2. What comes
to mind when
we think of
the death
penalty in the
US today?

3. Previous Research
● Attitudinal factors such as authoritarianism and
egalitarianism influence support for and opposition to
capital punishment (Unnever et al., 2005)
● Demographic factors influence support and opposition,
Northern and more urban areas more opposed
(Maggard et al., 2011)
● Lifestyle factors like crime-related television viewing
predict support (Holbert et al., 2004)

4. Why should you care?
Your tax dollars are being spent on
implementing capital punishment
Legislators need to
make informed
decisions for your state You may have the
opportunity to vote on capital
punishment in your state
Is the practice of capital
punishment just? Lives are at
stake.

5. Research Questions and Hypotheses
RQ1: How do common misconceptions in the media influence
support for or opposition to the death penalty in the US?
H1: Agreeing with the common misconceptions put forth in
this survey predicts significant support for capital
punishment in the US.
RQ2: Will information from a believed credible source change a
respondent’s attitude toward the death penalty?
H2: Information from a believed credible source will change
a respondent’s attitude toward the death penalty.

6. Methods, Misconceptions Portion
● Survey on Qualtrics
● 232 responses through Amazon Mechanical Turk
● Asking for opinion on the death penalty
● Testing how much respondents agree or disagree
with misconceptions using 6pt likert items
● Bivariate regression of support vs agree
● Mosaic plots and contingency tables, graphical
analysis

8. Methods, Experimental Portion
● Respondents view passages opposing their
expressed attitude towards the death penalty
● Introduced as from the New York Times
● Respondents are asked if the passage changed
their opinion
● Asked which factors of the passage were
influential

9. Results: Misconceptions Predict
Support
Statement Correlation Coefficient r
Defendants receiving a death sentence will probably be re-
sentenced later on appeal.
.13
Many defendants sentenced to life in prison eventually get
out on parole.
.14
The judge usually has the final say in sentencing at a
capital murder trial.
.15
No one on death row is innocent. .26
The death penalty is more cost-effective than a life
sentence.
.37
The death penalty serves as an effective deterrent to
potential criminals.
.48
(Boling)

10. Support in terms of agree vs disagree
(Boling)

11. Respondents willing to change their minds
Condition Participants Initial Attitude Net Change in Opinion
(in points on likert scale)
True Cost Passage N=64 Support or Unknown -1.37
False Cost Passage N=45 Oppose or Unknown +1.09
Cost (true or false) N=109 Any ±1.23
True Deterrence Passage N=79 Support or Unknown -1.07
False Deterrence Passage N=49 Oppose or Unknown +0.94
Deterrence (true or false) N=123 Any ±1.00
Both True Passages N=138 Support or Unknown -1.22
Both False Passages N=94 Oppose or Unknown +1.01
(Boling)

12. Cost and Deterrence
● Largest differences in support for agree vs
disagree
● Greatest predictors of support
● Implies that these are the most commonly
misunderstood aspects of the death penalty,
most important aspects of the death penalty
● How can we inform people?

13. Summary of Findings
● There is an association between agreeing with
misconceptions and supporting the death penalty
● Agreeing with the statement: “The death penalty is
an effective deterrent to potential violent criminals”
predicts the most support for capital punishment
● The statement “The death penalty is cost-efficient”
is the second most influential in terms of support

14. Summary of Findings, Cont.
● Respondents are willing to change their minds
after reading media they believe is from a credible
source
● It does not matter whether or not the information
given is true
● Both support and opposition to the death penalty
are strongly influenced by one’s moral viewpoint

15. Suggestions for Future Studies
● Focus on geographic region and comparing
death penalty vs non death penalty states
● Further study on the importance of moral
beliefs, how people draw moral conclusions
● Test specific media campaigns meant to
combat misinformation
● Determine the greatest sources of
misinformation

16. Bibliography
● Unnever, James D., Francis T. Cullen, and Julian V. Roberts. "NOT EVERYONE
STRONGLY SUPPORTS THE DEATH PENALTY: Assessing Weakly-Held Attitudes about
Capital Punishment." American Journal of Criminal Justice : AJCJ 29.2 (2005):
187-VII.
● Holbert, Lance R.; Shah, Dhavan V.; Kwak, Nojin. FEAR, AUTHORITY, AND
JUSTICE: CRIME-RELATED TV VIEWING AND ENDORSEMENTS OF CAPITAL
PUNISHMENT AND GUN OWNERSHIP. Journalism and Mass Communication
Quarterly; Summer 2004; 81, 2
● Bowers, William J., Benjamin D. Steiner, and Michael E. Antonio (2003). "The
Capital Sentencing Decision: Guided Discretion, Reasoned Moral Judgment, or
Legal Fiction." In James R. Acker, Robert M. Bohm, and Charles S. Lanier, (2nd
Ed.) America's Experiment with Capital Punishment: Reflections on the Past,
Present, and Future of the Ultimate Penal Sanction (Second Edition). Durham, NC:

17. Bibliography, Cont.
● Bowers, William J. and Benjamin D. Steiner (1999). "Death by Default: An
Empirical Demonstration of False and Forced Choices in Capital Sentencing." 77
Texas Law Review 605.
● Bowers, William J., Wanda D. Foglia, Jean E. Giles, and Michael E. Antonio (2006).
"The Decision Maker Matters: An Empirical Examination of the Way the Role of the
Judge and the Jury Influence Death Penalty Decision-Making." 63 Washington and
Lee Law Review 931.
● Maggard, Scott R., Brian K. Payne, and Allison T. Chappell (2011). “Attitudes
towards capital punishment: Educational, demographic, and neighborhood crime
influences.” 49 The Social Science Journal 155-66.

18. Acknowledgements
● William Durham and Center for Death Penalty
Litigation
● Dr. Neil Vidmar of Duke University Law School
● Steven Snell and Duke Social Science
Research Institute’s Survey Method Initiative
● NCSSM
● NCSSM Foundation
● Monsanto