Life or Death: Using a Real-World Case to Assess Student Death Penalty Opinion

Abstract

A significant body of scholarship addresses Justice Thurgood Marshall’s hypothesis regarding the nature of death penalty public opinion. However, much of this research is based on hypothetical scenarios or general classroom experiences versus real-world examples of the capital punishment process. The present study evaluates the power of the Marshall Hypothesis through a classroom exercise where students are exposed to the trial and punishment transcripts of a real death penalty case. Using a student sample from universities in Texas and California, the present study investigates how exposure to such information not only creates a unique learning experience for students and opportunities for faculty collaboration in the classroom, but also provides a new way to assess how exposure to information may impact death penalty opinion.

Notes

¹ The materials presented for review in this case included 771 pages of official trial transcripts, 1,442 pages of punishment transcripts, and 187 pages of state exhibits (photos, drawing, autopsy reports, etc.).