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Political Culture and the Death Penalty

Seton Hall University

Travis Pratt

Washington State University

Since the Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that the death penalty was not inherently unconstitutional, most states have adopted capital punishment statutes. Yet execution rates vary considerably from state to state. The objective of this work is to analyze the degree by which political culture is a determinant of states' implementation of capital punishment. This article finds that political culture, as measured by Daniel Elazar's prototype classifications of American political subcultures, is an important determinant of the adoption of death penalty statutes and the frequency of executions. Specifically, states that are characterized by a more traditionalistic political culture are more likely to have adopted a death penalty statute and to execute inmates more frequently. The link between political culture and the death penalty remains strong and stable even when controlling for a host of other factors that have been linked to the death penalty in prior research.

Key Words: capital punishment • political culture • Daniel Elaza

Criminal Justice Policy Review, Vol. 17, No. 1, 48-60 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0887403405279932


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