In Defense of the Right to Life: Analyzing Factors Affecting Filipino Opinion About Death Penalty well as the biological differences of the sexes in aggressive behavior.28 Because of the gender stereotype during childhood, women were brought up to be more nurturing and forgiving than men and are thus more likely to shun violent punishments as the death penalty. Hormonal differences could also explain why women tend to be less aggressive than men. Support for the death penalty was also found to be positively associated with age – where support is higher among older respondents than younger respondents.29 Differences in support by educational attainment was less consistent. Fox, et al. (1990)30 found support for the death penalty to be higher among high school graduates than nonhigh school graduates and college graduates. Halim and Stiles (2001) found that level of support was higher among those with lower education, although at modest levels.31 Religion and religiosity were likewise prominent demographic variables that have been extensively studied, although findings were mixed.32 There were very few studies that compare religious support among religious groups, and most studies were focused on the impact of membership in Christian fundamentalist groups in the United States and other predominantly Christian Western countries. Any differences observed therefore may not be applicable outside of the West. In the United States, ethnicity was found to be a significant predictor of support for the death penalty. Support for the death penalty is likely to be higher among whites than the African-Americans. However, several studies cautioned that higher support among whites could be due more to racial attitudes and core values than the actual support.33 Ethnicity was not tested in the current study in the Philippines. In this paper, the variables of sex, age, educational attainment, religion and religiosity as well as urbanicity and location were included in the analysis. Gender was coded 1=male and 0=female. Age was measured in years. Residence in urban areas was measured by the official urban-rural classification of barangays, 1=urban, and 0=rural. Dummy variables were created to test for the geographical location of respondents, with Mindanao as the baseline category with the expectations that support is slightly higher in Mindanao: 1=Metro Manila, and 0=all others; 1=Balance of Luzon, and 0=all others; and, 1=Visayas, and 0=all others. Dummy variables were also created for highest education level, with college-educated (those who graduated attended at least some college up to post-college degrees) as the baseline category: 1=up to elementary graduates, and 0=all others; and, 1=up to high school graduate, and 0=all others. Religion was coded 1=Roman Catholics, and 0=all others, and self-assessed religiosity was originally measured on a seven-point scale ranging from 1=extremely religious and 7=extremely non- religious; it was recoded to 1=religious, and 0=all others. In addition to these demographic variables, the paper examined the role of access to news on television and Internet usage in one’s support for the death penalty. The paper recognized Marshall’s contention that the public essentially lacks the informed knowledge about the death penalty. Niven (2002) argued that media coverage of the death penalty, specifically its failure to also mention opposition to the death penalty of support for alternative punishments, could result in a biased public that heavily supports the death penalty.34 Roberts, et al. (2002) also Stack (2000), supra note 24. Bohm, et al. (1991), supra note 12; Stack (2000), supra note 24; Stack (2004), supra note 8; James D. Unnever & Francis T. Cullen. Christian Fundamentalism and Support for Capital Punishment. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 43(2) J. Res. Crime Delinq. 169 (2006). 30 James Allan Fox, Michael Radelet, & Julee Bonsteel, Death penalty opinion in the post-Furman years, 18 Rev Law Soc Change, 499-528 (1990-1991). 31 Shaheen Halim & Beverly Stiles, Differential Support for Police Use of Force, the Death Penalty, and Perceived Harshness of the Courts: Effects of Race, Gender, and Region, 28(1) Crim. Justice Behav. 28(1) 3 (2001). 32 Unnever and Cullen (2006), supra note 28; Robert L. Young, Religious Orientation, Race and Support for the Death Penalty, 31(1) J. Sci. Study Relig. 76 (1992). 33 Joe Soss, Laura Langbein & Alan R. Metelko, Why Do White Americans Support the Death Penalty?, 65(2) J Polit 397 (2003); Unnever and Cullen (2006), supra note 28; Kevin Buckler, Mario Davila & Patti Ross Salinas, Racial Differences in Public Support for the Death Penalty: Can Racist sentiment and Core Values Explain the Racial Divide?, 33(2) J. Crim. Justice 151 (2008). 34 David Niven, Bolstering an Illusory Majority: The Effects of the Media’s Portrayal of Death Penalty Support, 83(3) Soc. Sci. Q. 671 (2002). 28 29 8