Objective: The purpose of the Hetey and Eberhardt study was to determine if the racial representation of correctional facilities had any impact on people’s opinions and acceptance of the disciplinary policies put in place within these institutions.
Background: The United States’ prison population outnumbers any other country’s prison population in the world, and African Americans are the most represented ethnicity in these institutions. This study states that even as violent-crime rates have dropped or remained constant, prison population continues to grow due to harsh criminal-sentencing schemes in the U.S.—like the three strikes law and other policies—that affect Blacks in particular. (Blumstein & Beck, 1999; Schmitt, Warner, &Gupta, 2010; Cheeseman, del Carmen, &Worley, 2006) …show more content…
The participants totaled to sixty-two voters—22 women and 40 men. They were shown a 40 second video of 80 mug shots of Black and White male inmates. To account for racial disparities, the examiners manipulated the ratio of Black to White inmates by either making the racial disparities more extreme or less extreme. (In the less-Black condition, Black inmates were 25% of the inmates shown. In the more-Black condition, Black inmates were 45% of the inmates shown.) Next, Participants were informed of California’s three-strikes law and the petition for it to be amended. They were asked how punitive it was on a scale from 1 (not punitive enough) to 7 (too punitive). The primary dependent measure was whether participants signed the three-strikes law petition or
Background: The United States’ prison population outnumbers any other country’s prison population in the world, and African Americans are the most represented ethnicity in these institutions. This study states that even as violent-crime rates have dropped or remained constant, prison population continues to grow due to harsh criminal-sentencing schemes in the U.S.—like the three strikes law and other policies—that affect Blacks in particular. (Blumstein & Beck, 1999; Schmitt, Warner, &Gupta, 2010; Cheeseman, del Carmen, &Worley, 2006) …show more content…
The participants totaled to sixty-two voters—22 women and 40 men. They were shown a 40 second video of 80 mug shots of Black and White male inmates. To account for racial disparities, the examiners manipulated the ratio of Black to White inmates by either making the racial disparities more extreme or less extreme. (In the less-Black condition, Black inmates were 25% of the inmates shown. In the more-Black condition, Black inmates were 45% of the inmates shown.) Next, Participants were informed of California’s three-strikes law and the petition for it to be amended. They were asked how punitive it was on a scale from 1 (not punitive enough) to 7 (too punitive). The primary dependent measure was whether participants signed the three-strikes law petition or