How Belief In Pure Evil Relates to Perceptions and Punishment of Christian Vs. Muslim Mass Shooters

Among 197 students from a minority-serving college (71.6% women; 58.4% Christian; 48.2% exclusively White), higher belief in pure evil related to greater punishment of a mass shooter; greater dehumanization and retribution mediated this relationship. These effects held regardless of whether the shooter was depicted as a devout Christian or Muslim.