Attribution styles and attitudes toward capital punishment for juveniles, the mentally incompetent, and the mentally retarded

This study used attribution theory to explain respondents' levels of support for the death penalty for juveniles, the mentally ill, and the mentally retarded via the administration of a quasi-experimental factorial survey to 697 subjects who were called for jury service. The results indicate that the respondents with dispositional attribution styles were significantly more likely to recommend a death sentence than were those with situational attribution styles. Moreover, the study found that the effects of a large number of the "known correlates" of support for the death penalty were fully or substantially mediated by attribution theory measures. The substantive, theoretical, methodological, and legal/policy implications of the study are discussed.