Browsing by Author "Smith, M. Dwayne"
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Item Current Issues and Controversies in Capital Punishment(American Journal of Criminal Justice, 2014-03) Richards, Tara N.; Smith, M. DwayneIt is our pleasure to introduce you to our special issue on “Current Issues and Controversies in Capital Punishment”. Capital punishment continues to be one of the most highly debated and polarizing public policies issues in the United States. But, the number of individuals on death row has reached an almost twenty year low, many states have moratoriums on capital punishment, while others have repealed the use of the death penalty altogether (Death Penalty Information Center, 2014, 2013a). At the same time, thirty-two states continue to use capital punishment and as of this writing, twenty individuals have been executed in 2014 (Death Penalty Information Center, 2013b). Social science research often enters the capital punishment debate through studies examining the influence of legal and extralegal characteristics on prosecutorial decisions to seek the death penalty (e.g., Paternoster, 1984; Paternoster & Brame, 2003), jury death sentence decision-making (e.g., Jennings, Richards, Bjerregaard, Smith, Bjerregaard, & Fogel, 2014; Paternoster & Brame, 2008; Richards, Jennings, Smith, Sellers, Fogel, & Bjerregaard, 2014; Williams, Demuth, & Holcomb, 2007), and societal attitudes regarding the use of the death penalty (e.g., Cochran & Chamlin, 2005; Michel & Cochran, 2011) as well as other related topics. In this vein, the purpose of this special issue is to address contemporary topics related to the death penalty that have not been addressed or have received limited attention in the extant criminological literature. The set of articles included in this special issue stem from different disciplinary perspectives including philosophy, law, public policy, and criminology, and utilize diverse method- ological approaches ranging from case studies to propensity score analysis.Item An Examination of the Media Portrayal of Femicide-Suicides: An Exploratory Frame Analysis(Feminist Criminology, 2013-12) Richards, Tara N.; Gillespie, Lane K.; Smith, M. DwayneRecent research has been focused on the portrayal of intimate partner homicides in the news media with specific emphasis on the most commonly occurring type, femicides (the murder of a female intimate partner by a male intimate partner). One important finding in the analysis of intimate partner homicide is the striking number of femicides that are followed by perpetrator suicide. Whereas homicide followed by suicide is a rare occurrence in the context of crime generally, within the context of intimate partner homicide, femicide–suicide is common. The present research utilized content analysis to explore the media coverage of a near population of femicide–suicide cases in the North Carolina from 2002 to 2009 (n = 86). An examination of the article titles showed that the majority of titles (54%) assigned to the articles describe the crime as an ambiguous homicide or homicide–suicide and do not indicate the relationship between the perpetrator and victim. In comparison, results show that 78% of the articles’ text defined the homicide–suicide as domestic violence. Specifically, in cases where the news coverage defined the femicide–suicide as domestic violence, the authors identified 4 media frames used (1) femicide–suicide by a male perpetrator, (2) femicide–suicide due to loss of perpetrator control, (3) femicide–suicide as a mercy killing, and (4) femicide– suicide due to jealousy. Implications for societal perceptions of violence against women as well as corresponding victims’ policies/services are presented and discussed.Item Framing Femicide-Suicide: The Media’s Portrayal of Female Intimate Partner Homicide Victims and Male Perpetrated Homicide-Suicides(The Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminoolgy, 2011-11) Richards, Tara N.; Gillespie, Lane K.; Smith, M. DwayneThe news media play a substantial role in shaping society’s perceptions of social issues, including domestic violence. However, minimal research has been conducted to examine whether news media frame stories of femicide within the context of domestic violence. Using frame analysis, the present research compares newspaper articles representing 113 cases of femicide that define the murder as domestic violence to a random sample of 113 cases without coverage defining the femicide as domestic violence. Findings indicate that both groups are represented by multiple frames, including a previously unidentified frame that places the femicide in the context of domestic violence as a social problem.Item Predictors of Death Sentencing for Minority, Equal, and Majority Female Juries in Capital Murder Trials(Women & Criminal Justice, 2016-01) Richards, Tara N.; Bjerregaard, Beth; Cochran, Joseph; Smith, M. Dwayne; Fogel, Sondra J.The relatively small body of prior research investigating whether the sex composition of juries impacts sentencing decisions has produced equivocal results. Exploring this topic further, the current study used a large sample of capital cases from North Carolina (n = 675) to examine (a) whether jury sex composition predicted jury capital punishment sentencing decisions; and (b) whether there were different models of sentencing for male-majority, equal male-female, and female-majority juries. When we controlled for a number of legal and extralegal factors, our findings indicated that jury sex composition was independently related to sentencing outcomes. Specifically, equal male-female juries were significantly more likely and female-majority juries were significantly less likely to choose the death penalty versus a sentence of life in prison. In addition, different models (predictors) of sentencing were revealed for each of the jury sex compositions. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.Item When Domestic Goes Capital: Juror Decision Making in Capital Murder Trials Involving Domestic Homicide(Law and Human Behavior, 2015-04) Richards, Tara N.; Smith, M. Dwayne; Fogel, Sondra J.; Bjerregaard, BethPrior research suggests that homicide cases involving familial offenders and victims are subject to a "domestic discount" that reduces sentencing severity. However, the operation of a domestic discount in regard to death penalty sentencing has been rarely examined. The current research uses a near-population of jury decisions in capital murder trials conducted in North Carolina from 1991 to 2009 (n = 800), and a series of logistic regression analyses to determine whether there is (a) a direct effect between offender-victim relationship (e.g., domestic, friend/acquaintance, and stranger) and jury decision making, and/or (b) whether domestic offender-victim relationship (as well as other offender-victim relationships) moderates the effect of legal and extralegal case characteristics on jury assessment of the death penalty. Our findings revealed no empirical support for a "domestic discount" whereby juries are less likely to impose death sentences in cases involving domestic homicides. However, substantial differences in predictors of death sentencing were found across offender-victim dyads; most notably, domestic homicide cases demonstrated the most legalistic model of jury decisions to impose death sentences.