Who is Culpable for Fentanyl-Induced Deaths? An Experimental Test of Culpability in Fentanyl Death Scenarios

• In Event: Pursuing Punishment for Drug Crimes: Examining Policy and Public Opinion

Abstract

The opioid crisis, and specifically the emerging fentanyl crisis, has increased public awareness and turned attention to those who provide drug users fentanyl. Since public opinion contributes to policy and the public serves as jury members in evaluating the culpability in criminal cases, the present study utilizes an experimental vignette survey of drug overdose scenarios to investigate public perceptions of criminal culpability of the drug provider in overdose deaths. Within the same overdose scenario, the drug provider (friend or drug dealer) and race of the provider and victim were randomized, totaling eight separate vignette conditions. Results show that respondents assigned a scenario where a drug dealer was the fentanyl provider (compared to a friend as the provider) were significantly more likely to support punitive action. There were no significant differences when the race of the drug provider and/or victim were randomized. Robustness checks confirmed these punitive attitudes toward drug dealers. Thus, the public is more likely to rely on the relationship of the drug provider to the victim, compared to the racial dynamics of the drug provider-victim, when assessing culpability in the death of the victim. Implications for policy and future research will be discussed.

Authors

• Sohee Jung, University of South Carolina

• Lekendra Kidd, University of South Carolina

• Hunter Boehme, University of South Carolina

• Peter Leasure, Ohio State University