Politicians exploit capital crimes to win elections

Evidence

In several high-profile cases, governors have lost elections in which their opposition to the death penalty was the Achilles’ heel of their political campaigns. These outcomes reinforced the political view that staunch support for capital punishment wins elections, and opposition to it jeopardizes electability. Politicians therefore exploit capital crimes to further their political careers. Borrowing from the “Willie Horton” debacle, they portray their opponents as soft on crime, with mug shots of notorious criminals in their campaign materials and television ads. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1855

Lawmakers play an influential role in whether capital punishment is retained or abolished in a society. In several high-profile cases, governors have lost elections in which their opposition to the death penalty was the Achilles’ heel of their political campaigns. These outcomes reinforced the political view that staunch support for capital punishment wins elections, and opposition to it jeopardizes electability. Politicians therefore exploit capital crimes to further their political careers. Borrowing from the “Willie Horton” debacle, they portray their opponents as soft on crime, with mug shots of notorious criminals in their campaign materials and television ads. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1855

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the author’s library on moral panics and populist scapegoating in political communication — the Willie Horton ad is a textbook example of fear-driven demagoguery. — connects to: Severe sentencing fails to reduce crime yet politicians escalate it anyway — Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and…, 888
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1855