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Status Disparities in the Capital of Capital Punishment

Bibliographic Data

ID4085185
AuthorsScott W Phillips (0000-0002-0731-7612, corresponding author), Scott Phillips (0000-0001-8181-4783)
Year2009
Volume43
Issue4
Pages807-838
Publication date2009-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLaw & Society Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0023-9216 • E-ISSN: 1540-5893
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1540-5893.2009.00389.x
OpenAlexW1592264781
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited52

Numerous studies have examined the influence of victim race on capital punishment, with a smaller number focused on victim gender. But death penalty scholars have largely ignored victim social status. Drawing on Black's (1976) multidimensional theoretical concept, the current research examines the impact of victim social status on the district attorney's decision to seek the death penalty and the jury's decision to impose a death sentence. The data include the population of cases indicted for capital murder in Harris County (Houston), Texas, from 1992 to 1999 (n=504). The findings suggest that victim social status has a robust influence on the ultimate state sanction: Death was more likely to be sought and imposed on behalf of high-status victims who were integrated, sophisticated, conventional, and respectable. The research also has implications beyond capital punishment. Because victim social status has rarely been investigated in the broader sentencing literature, Black's concept provides a theoretical tool that could be used to address such an important omission

Capital (architecture · Capital punishment · Criminology · Geography · Jury · Political science · Population · Punishment (psychology · Race (biology · Sentence · Social capital · Social status · Sociology · State (computer science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Demography · Gender Studies · Law · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending · Social Psychology

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Unique citing works21
Citations per year1,4
Citation span2011 - 2025 (15)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 21
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