(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Support for the use of capital punishment remains high in the United States, according to a poll by Gallup released by USA Today. 69 per cent of respondents are in favour of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder, up four points since May 2006.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Support for the use of capital punishment remains high in the United States, according to a poll by Gallup released by USA Today. 69 per cent of respondents are in favour of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder, up four points since May 2006.
Since 1976, 1,099 people have been put to death in the United States, including 42 this year. More than a third of all executions have taken place in the state of Texas. Twelve states and the District of Columbia do not engage in capital punishment.
Earlier this month, Arthur Alarcon, a veteran judge in a Court of Appeals in Los Angeles, proposed an overhaul of the death penalty system in California that would require amending the U.S. Constitution. Alarcon criticized the backlogged system in the state—where 667 inmates are waiting on death row—as "inefficient", and blamed it partly on local legislators and current governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for not putting money into the process.
Alarcon said his proposal seeks to avoid that the inefficient application of capital punishment give a reason to the Supreme Court for ruling against the death penalty, and declared: "There may be no interest on the political side in doing something. They may be comfortable with a de facto abolition of capital punishment."
Polling Data
Are you in favour of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder?
|
Oct. 2007 |
May 2006 |
Oct. 2005 |
|
|
In favour |
69% |
65% |
64% |
|
Opposed |
27% |
28% |
30% |
|
Not sure |
4% |
7% |
6% |
Source: Gallup / USA Today
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,010 American adults, conducted from Oct. 4 to Oct. 7, 2007. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
