The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 2002 con­tains its lat­est cat­a­log of data on crime, the admin­is­tra­tion of jus­tice, and pub­lic atti­tudes toward crim­i­nal jus­tice issues such as the death penal­ty. For exam­ple, a grow­ing num­ber of Americans sup­port the sen­tence of life with­out parole over the death penal­ty. In 1985, a Gallup Poll found that 34% of those polled favored life in prison with­out parole. This lat­est edi­tion of the Sourcebook shows that by 2001 the num­ber of respon­dents favor­ing life with­out parole had climbed to 44% (and high­er since then). The sup­port for life with­out parole is even stronger among black respon­dents (73%), respon­dents hold­ing col­lege post-grad­u­ate degrees (62%), and those who iden­ti­fy them­selves as Democrats (60%). The Sourcebook also revealed an increase in the num­ber of Hispanic inmates on death row in the United States. With an increase record­ed each year between 1996 and 2001, the pop­u­la­tion has grown from 8.8% to 11.2%. The Sourcebook is updat­ed as new data becomes avail­able and may be found online at https://​www​.albany​.edu/​s​o​u​r​c​e​book/. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 2002-(published 2003; con­tains some 2003 data; cost $9)). See Life Without Parole, Race, and Resources.

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