Reasons for death penalty attitudes among Chinese citizens: Retributive or instrumental?

There is strong support for the death penalty in China; the reasons behind the support, however, are unclear. Retribution and the instrumental perspectives are two major reasons for pro-death penalty attitudes in the United States. Two survey-based studies partially examined whether these two perspectives are also the reasons behind pro-death penalty attitudes in China. Those studies, however, were limited to college students. Using a survey data of 108 regular citizens from different areas and occupations, this study found that both instrumental and retributive perspectives are predictors of pro-death penalty attitudes, and that the former is stronger than the latter.