| Abstrakt: |
ABSTRACTThe death penalty is a defining issue in public policy debates about the role of punishment and criminal justice in society. Points of contention include the potential deterrent effect for the penalty, the degree of public support for it and the degree to which the penalty serves an important symbolic function. Public debate over the practice often proceeds without adequate information, however. Understanding how the media reports executions is, therefore, of fundamental theoretic importance for examining public opinion and exchange as well as for assessing claims that deterrent and symbolic effects of punishment operate through the media. In this paper, I examine predictors of media coverage for 499 executions in U.S. newspapers. After demonstrating, the rather obvious but neglected fact that sensational cases are the most likely to come to citizens’ attention, I discuss the implications for policy and an informed public discourse. |
