The Social Science of the Death Penalty: Before, during, and after Trial
The death penalty is a controversial topic that has attracted attention broadly, from diverse groups including lawmakers, religious leaders, and the general public. Social scientists have also been intrigued by the phenomenon and have studied many aspects
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ath penalty is a contentious and oft-debated subject in both academic circles and in the general public. The USA is unique among Western developed countries because it has not abolished the death penalty and still performs executions (see Amnesty International, 2019). Even among various regions of the USA, there is debate as to the appropriateness of the penalty, and this is reflected in community sentiment and the laws related to the penalty (see Miller & Chamberlain, 2015). This controversy has led to much social science research, which is the focus of this chapter. While there are several books and many articles and chapters (e.g., Alvarez, Miller, & Bornstein, 2016; Haney, 2005; Lynch, 2009; Myers, Johnson, & Nuñez, 2018) that summarize the social science research related to various aspects of the death penalty and how it has changed over time, there is limited scholarship that also synthesizes the role of social science in understanding events and behavior before, during, and after a death penalty trial. We consider sociological and psychological research related to the death penalty phenomenon, including factors that shape its evolution, that shape people’s general beliefs about crimes and criminals, that shape jurors’ decisions, and that shape prisoners’ experiences while on death row. By considering a variety of sociological and psychological aspects, we offer a holistic perspective of the death penalty phenomenon. One of the more sociological aspects of capital punishment is how the process has changed and become less frequent over time. This could be, in part, due to a M. P. West (*) Department of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, USA e-mail: [email protected] M. K. Miller Criminal Justice Department and Interdisciplinary Social Psychology PhD Program, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 M. K. Miller, B. H. Bornstein (eds.), Advances in Psychology and Law, Advances in Psychology and Law 5, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54678-6_7
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maturing of society and its ideals. Such broad changes influence community sentiment—the collective attitude of the people in various “communities,” which could include groups such as residents of a state or members of political groups (Miller, Blumenthal, & Chamberlain, 2015). Societal changes led to the notion of “evolving standards of decency”: a term coined by the US Supreme Court to refer to community sentiment regarding the appropriateness of the death penalty in a variety of circumstances (e.g., for juveniles). Many communities (i.e., states) have kept the penalty, while others have rejected the penalty. This decision is related to characteristics of these regions, including their political and religious make-up (Amidon, 2013). One of the more psychological aspects of capital punishment is associated with people’s general tendencies that precede their service as
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