Eberhardt (2006) Alternatives to imprisonment - death penalty

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To investigate whether or not there is support for the hypothesis that black offenders with stereotypically black features were more likely to get the death sentence than white offenders.

Question 2

Method

Answer 2

Lab experiment

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

database analysis of death penalty cases in Philadelphia from 1979 -1999. In 44 cases a black man had murdered a white victim.

their photos were shown to 51 naive raters from Stanford uni (non black) and asked to rate their futures s being stereotypically black on a scale from 1-11.

factors analysed:

• extent to which defendant had stereotypically black features
• mitigating circumstances
• severity of the murder
• socioeconomic status of defendant and victim
• attractiveness of defendant

Question 4

results

Answer 4

most significant variable was stereotypical black defendants with black features were 57.5% more likely to receive the death sentence.

Question 5

Conclusions

Answer 5

Supports hypothesis - possibly due to black physical traits being associated with criminality and this influencing sentencing.

however only seems to be significant with white victims inferring that black victims are seen as less important.