The research also examined the interaction of victim impact evidence with participants' attitudes toward the death penalty, as well as with the degree of aggravation of the murder. The participants were 99 undergraduate students at North Carolina State University. They participated in the experiment as one method of fulfilling a course research requirement. Each participant received one of two versions of a crime report to read. The descriptions were of either a moderately aggravated murder or a severely aggravated murder. The participants were informed that the defendant had already been convicted of first-degree murder. The task was to decide on whether the offender should be sentenced to life imprisonment or capital punishment. The participants then read summaries of the prosecution and defense arguments about the penalty, after which they either read or did not read a statement that described the impact of the victim's death on the victim's family. Significantly more participants who read the victim impact statement voted for death than did those who did not read the statement. In addition, victim impact evidence led to increased numbers of participants voting for death for both the moderately aggravated murder and the severely aggravated murder. Furthermore, victim impact evidence had its strongest effects on individuals who already favored capital punishment. Tables, notes, list of cases cited, and 25 references (Author abstract modified)