A Crisis of Confidence: Americans’ Doubts About the Death Penalty

Executive Summary Top

According to a nation­al pub­lic opin­ion poll con­duct­ed in 2007, the pub­lic is los­ing con­fi­dence in the death penal­ty. People are deeply con­cerned about the risk of exe­cut­ing the inno­cent, about the fair­ness of the process, and about the inabil­i­ty of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment to accom­plish its basic pur­pos­es. Most Americans believe that inno­cent peo­ple have already been exe­cut­ed, that the death penal­ty is not a deter­rent to crime, and that a mora­to­ri­um should be placed on all executions.

Many in America also believe they would be dis­qual­i­fied from serv­ing on a jury in a cap­i­tal case because of their moral objec­tions. Among women and Catholics, near­ly half believe they would be exclud­ed. Two-thirds of blacks believe they would be dis­qual­i­fied. Even among those who sup­port the death penal­ty and believe they would be qual­i­fied to serve on a cap­i­tal jury, the risk of con­vict­ing or exe­cut­ing the inno­cent would make them less like­ly to vote for a death sentence.

While a major­i­ty still sup­port the death penal­ty in the­o­ry, it is becom­ing irrel­e­vant to many Americans because it is rarely applied, and not always to the worst offend­ers. Life with­out parole sen­tences are becom­ing more attrac­tive to many Americans, and it is the prefer­able choice over the death penal­ty for major sub­groups of the pop­u­la­tion. Two-thirds of Americans do not believe that reforms of the death penal­ty sys­tem will elim­i­nate its problems.

The pub­lic’s lack of con­fi­dence in the death penal­ty is being echoed by rep­re­sen­ta­tives of vic­tims’ groups, by for­mer sup­port­ers of the death penal­ty, and in the edi­to­r­i­al pages of the nation’s news­pa­pers. Although the dis­sat­is­fac­tion with cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment has many roots, the com­mon and prin­ci­pal con­cern heard through­out the coun­try is the risk that inno­cent peo­ple may be caught up with the guilty. 

Additional Resources Top

Read a sum­ma­ry of the media cov­er­age of A Crisis of Confidence here.