Read the Newsweek Feature
About DPIC’s Poll & Report
The Trials of Darryl Hunt
pre­mieres around the USA
DPIC’s New Poll and Report Shows America Becoming More Distant from the Death Penalty
Because of mis­takes and a lack of effi­ca­cy, the death penal­ty is los­ing the con­fi­dence of the American pub­lic, accord­ing to a new poll and report issued by the Death Penalty Information Center. Nearly 40% of the American pub­lic believes they would be dis­qual­i­fied from serv­ing on death penal­ty juries because of their moral beliefs. The per­cent­age is even high­er among minori­ties and women.

The report, based on a poll by RT Strategies, found that a major­i­ty (58%) of the American pop­u­la­tion believes it is time for a mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty while the process under­goes a care­ful review. Sixty per­cent (60%) of the pub­lic believes the death penal­ty is not a deter­rent to mur­der.

Nearly all Americans (87%) believe that an inno­cent per­son has already been exe­cut­ed in recent years, and over half (55%) say that fact has affect­ed their views on the death penal­ty. An over­whelm­ing 69% of the pub­lic believes that reforms will not elim­i­nate all wrong­ful con­vic­tions and exe­cu­tions. DPIC ana­lyzes the poll results in a new report, A Crisis of Confidence: Americans’ Doubts About the Death Penalty.

​“Public con­fi­dence in the death penal­ty has clear­ly erod­ed over the past 10 years, most­ly as a result of DNA exon­er­a­tions. Whether it is con­cern about exe­cut­ing the inno­cent, beliefs that the death penal­ty is not a deter­rent, moral objec­tions to tak­ing human life, or a gen­er­al sense that the sys­tem is too bro­ken to be fixed, the bot­tom line is the same: Americans are mov­ing away from the death penal­ty,” said Richard Dieter, DPIC’s Executive Director.

The poll sam­ple includ­ed 1,000 adults nation­wide and the mar­gin of error was +3.1%.

Citation Guide