Abstract
Since 9/11, entertainment media has focused on depictions of terrorism and counterterrorism. How do dramatic depictions of counterterrorism practices—specifically torture—affect public opinion and policy? Using a mixed within-subjects and between-subjects experimental design, we examine how framing affects support for torture. Participants (n = 150) were randomly assigned to a condition for dramatic depictions showing torture as (a) effective, (b) ineffective, or (c) not present (control). Participants who saw torture as effective increased their stated support for it. Participants who saw torture—regardless of whether or not it was effective—were more likely to sign a petition on torture. We discuss the policy implications of our findings on how framing affects opinion and action regarding torture.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1568-1589 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Crime and Delinquency |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 1 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s) 2017.
Funding
Joseph K. Young is associate professor with appointments in the School of Public Affairs and School of International Service at American University. He is an expert on terrorism and political violence, and is the co-founder of the Peace and Violence Research Lab at American University. His work has been published in journals across scholarly disciplines, including political science, criminology, economics, and international studies. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, USAID, and the National Consortium for the Study of and Responses to Terrorism (START). The author(s) received financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the School of Public Affairs Research Scholars Grant at American University.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs | |
| U.S. Department of Energy Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Project Oak Ridge National Laboratory Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment National Science Foundation National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center National Natural Science Foundation of China | |
| United States Agency for International Development | |
| American University |
Keywords
- counterterrorism
- media
- public opinion
- torture
- violence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pathology and Forensic Medicine
- Law
