The Death Penalty Attitudes of Social Work Students: Current and Future Opportunities

Although much is known about the death penalty attitudes of U.S. adults, the attitudes of social workers are less clear. The current study assesses the death penalty attitudes of 406 social work students at a southern university. Support was measured in isolation, in conjunction with alternative sentencing structures, and using vignettes to provide mitigating factors about the defendant and the crime. Social work students reported low levels of death penalty support (32%), which decreased when alternative sentences were provided (11%). Death penalty support was lowest on case vignettes (range: 0–16%). Implications for social work and future research directions are discussed.