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A Content Analysis of Media Accounts of Death Penalty and Life Without Parole Cases Lisa R East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 5-2017 A Content Analysis of Media Accounts of Death Penalty and Life Without Parole Cases Lisa R. Kirk East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Kirk, Lisa R., "A Content Analysis of Media Accounts of Death Penalty and Life Without Parole Cases" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3184. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3184 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Content Analysis of Media Accounts of Death Penalty and Life Without Parole Cases ____________________________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of Criminal Justice/Criminology East Tennessee State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Criminal Justice & Criminology ____________________________ by Lisa Regina Kirk May 2017 ____________________________ Dr. John Whitehead, Chair Dr. Jennifer Pealer Dr. Larry Miller Keywords: Death Penalty, Life Without Parole, LWOP, Media, Newsworthy Murderers, Juvenile Murderers, Serial Killer ABSTRACT A Content Analysis of Media Accounts of Death Penalty and Life Without Parole Cases by Lisa Regina Kirk The study analyzed a convenience sample of published accounts of death penalty cases and life without parole cases. The objective of the study was to explore factors that influence the selection of cases for coverage in books, think tank reports (e.g., Heritage Foundation), and periodicals and factors related to coverage of homicides resulting in a death penalty sentence or a life without parole sentence (often termed “America’s other death penalty”). Since this study was exploratory, hypotheses were not offered. However, prior research on the death penalty and on life without parole offered several clues. For example, since black offender/white victim homicides were more likely to result in a death penalty sentence, it was expected that such homicides would more likely to be covered. Since conservatives were more likely to favor the death penalty and liberals were likely to oppose it, it was expected that coverage would vary by how conservative or liberal the coverage source. For example, how the Heritage Foundation covered cases was expected to be different from coverage by Human Rights Watch. In summary, my study revealed opposite results of previous research studies. The results of my study are probably skewed because of the small sample size. A bigger sample size would more than likely resulted in more accurate and reliable results. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... 2 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ 7 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 8 Statement of Problem ................................................................................................ 8 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................. 11 Introduction and History of the Death Penalty .......................................................... 11 Support and Opposition of the Death Penalty ............................................... 12 Race ............................................................................................................... 20 Gender ........................................................................................................... 23 Age ................................................................................................................ 28 Media ............................................................................................................. 33 Summary .................................................................................................................... 42 3. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................ 43 4. FINDINGS ....................................................................................................................... 47 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 47 Selected Newsworthy Murderers .............................................................................. 47 Troy Davis ..................................................................................................... 47 Davis Overview ................................................................................. 55 James Bulger ................................................................................................. 56 Bulger Overview ............................................................................... 58 Joseph Carl Shaw .......................................................................................... 59 3 Shaw Overview ................................................................................. 63 Donald Wayne Thomas ................................................................................. 63 Thomas Overview ............................................................................. 66 Michael Cervi ................................................................................................ 67 Cervi Overview ................................................................................. 70 Judy Haney .................................................................................................... 71 Haney Overview ................................................................................ 77 Jimmy Lee Horton ......................................................................................... 77 Horton Overview ............................................................................... 81 Larry Heath .................................................................................................... 82 Heath Overview ................................................................................. 85 Elmo Patrick Sonnier ..................................................................................... 86 Sonnier Overview .............................................................................. 88 Robert Willie ................................................................................................. 89 Willie Overview ................................................................................ 91 Rickey Ray Rector ......................................................................................... 92 Rector Overview ................................................................................ 94 Ronald Williamson ........................................................................................ 95 Williamson Overview ........................................................................ 98 Cameron Todd Willingham ........................................................................... 98 Willingham Overview ....................................................................... 106 Analysis of Selected Newsworthy Murderers ....................... 107 4 Juvenile Murderers .................................................................................................... 110 Nathan Leopold ......................................................................................................... 111 Leopold Overview ............................................................................. 111 Andre Contreras ............................................................................................. 112 Ralph David Cruz .......................................................................................... 113 David Garcia .................................................................................................. 113 Sarah Johnson ................................................................................................ 114 Ashley Jones .................................................................................................. 114 Eduardo Lopez ............................................................................................... 116 Jesus Mandujano ........................................................................................... 116 Donald Torres ................................................................................................ 117 Norman Willover ........................................................................................... 117 Adult Time For Adult Crimes Overview ........................................... 118 Analysis of Juvenile Murderers ............................................. 118 Serial Killers .............................................................................................................. 128 Rodney Alcala ............................................................................................... 128 Alcala Overview ...............................................................................
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