DPIC Report: Smart on Crime
Reconsidering the Death Penalty in Time of Economic Crisis
Overview
In a democracy, the substance of the laws is determined by the people. Even the constitution can be changed through the democratic process. Public sentiment can be measured through polling, but it is also reflected in elections and referenda, both on a local and national level.
There is a long history of polls of asking the public whether they favor or oppose the death penalty for the crime of murder. The resultant responses might reflect the public’s philosophical or moral stance on the issue, but they do not measure opinion about the death penalty as it is actually practiced, which requires such information as the availability of alternative sentences, the risks of mistake and bias, and the costs associated with the practice.
At Issue
The death penalty is sometimes justified because the majority of poll respondents supports it in the abstract. The Supreme Court, in attempting to determine whether a punishment is cruel and unusual, asks whether the punishment comports with society’s “evolving standards of decency.” The Court has been reluctant to rely on opinion polls to measure these standards because poll results can vary widely depending on the polling firm and the specific wording of the questions asked. Instead, the Court has looked to the actions of state legislatures and the decisions of juries, prosecutors and governors, as reflecting public will. The myriad of disturbing facts about the death penalty has led to a sharp decline in its use and even to a lowering of support in the abstract poll question. Ultimately, the future of the death penalty will depend on whether it is retaining public support.
What DPIC Offers
DPIC has highlighted the results of many polls on the death penalty over many years, both on a national and state level. Some of these polls go into greater depth than those just asking the abstract question of support or opposition. DPIC has also commissioned its own polls, including surveys of those in law enforcement, and has issued reports on the results.
News & Developments
News
Aug 30, 2023
Former Pro-Death Penalty District Attorney Explains Why He Now Supports Abolition and Fears Political Promises to Expand Use of the Death Penalty
Former Denver Chief Deputy District Attorney Craig Silverman recently wrote about why he changed his mind about supporting the death penalty and expressed new fears regarding its future use. His op-ed was published on August 29, 2023 in the Colorado Sun. Mr. Silverman writes that capital punishment was a prominent issue in his campaign for Denver District Attorney, and he himself prosecuted death penalty cases and publicly supported its use. But he writes that he now has “newfound support for abolishing capital punishment” for reasons he characterizes as “personal.”
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Mar 11, 2024
OP-ED: Journalist Recalls Witnessing an Execution and Describes the Importance of Media Witnesses
In May 1990, Jonathan Eig, then a reporter for The New Orleans Times-Picayune, witnessed the electric-chair-execution of Dalton Prejean at Angola State Penitentiary for the 1977 murder of a Louisiana state trooper. Mr. Eig watched Mr. Prejean’s execution through an observation window, and reported seeing “his chest heave, his fists clench and his right wrist twist outward. A spark and a puff of smoke shot from the electrode attached to his left leg.” In the years following the execution, Mr. Eig regretted his decision to witness Mr. Prejean’s execution, writing…
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Nov 06, 2023
POLL: For the First Time, More Americans Believe the Death Penalty Is Applied Unfairly in the United States
The Gallup Crime Survey has asked about the fairness of death penalty application in the United States since 2000. For the first time, the October 2023 survey reports that more Americans believe the death penalty is applied unfairly (50%) than fairly (47%). Between 2000 and 2015, 51%-61% of Americans said they thought capital punishment was applied fairly in the U.S., but this number has been dropping since 2016. This year’s number of 47% represents a historic low in the history of Gallup’s polling.
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Jul 26, 2023
NEW RESOURCES: Capital Punishment and the State of Criminal Justice 2023
The American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section has announced its forthcoming annual report, The State of Criminal Justice 2023, examining the state of the American criminal legal system.
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Dec 16, 2022
DPIC 2022 Year End Report: Commutation of Oregon Death Row Headlines U.S. Death-Penalty Decline in a Year Marred by Botched Executions
The death penalty continued its long-term decline in the U.S. in 2022, as Oregon commuted its death row and new death sentences and public support for the death penalty remained near 50-year lows. But perhaps more dramatically than anything else, the fortieth anniversary of lethal injection could be known as “the Year of the Botched Execution,” the Death Penalty Information Center said in its 2022 Year End Report.
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Dec 06, 2022
Midterm Elections: Moratorium Supporters, Reform Prosecutors Post Gains Despite Massive Campaign Efforts to Tie Reformers to Surge in Violent Crime
In a year that featured massive campaign advertising attempting to portray legal reformers as responsible for increases in violent crime, candidates committed to criminal legal reform or who promised to continue statewide moratoria on executions posted key election wins in the 2022 midterm elections. Defying a pre-election narrative forecasting a backlash against progressive prosecutors and conventional wisdom that fear of crime drives political outcomes, reform prosecutors were re-elected to office and gained new footholds in counties across the country.
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Nov 15, 2022
Polls: Death Penalty Support Remains Near 50-Year Low Despite Record-High Perception that Crime Has Increased
Two national polls have found that support for capital punishment in the United States remains near half-century lows despite record-high perception that local crime has increased.
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Aug 10, 2022
NEW RESOURCES: Capital Punishment and the State of Criminal Justice 2022
The American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section has released its annual report, The State of Criminal Justice 2022, examining the state of the American criminal legal system.
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Jun 16, 2022
Percentage of Americans Who View the Death Penalty as Morally Acceptable Remains Near Record Low
The percentage of Americans who find the death penalty morally acceptable remains near a record low, according to a new poll released by the Gallup organization on June 9, 2022. 55% of respondents to Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs Survey told Gallup that they consider the death penalty morally acceptable, fractionally above the record low of 54% in the organization’s 2020 survey. The number matches the 55% level of acceptability reported in the 2021 Values and Beliefs survey.
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May 09, 2022
Poll: Support for Death Penalty in Louisiana Falls By 7 Percentage Points in 4 Years
Support for capital punishment in Louisiana has fallen by seven percentage points in the last four years, according to the 2022 Louisiana Survey by the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs at Louisiana State University.
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Apr 14, 2022
Kentucky Becomes Second State to Bar Imposing Death Penalty on Those Diagnosed as Seriously Mentally Ill
Kentucky has become the second state in the U.S. to bar imposing the death penalty on those diagnosed as seriously mentally ill. On April 8, 2022, Governor Andy Beshear (pictured) signed HB 269 into law, as Kentucky joined neighboring Ohio in exempting severely mentally ill defendants from capital punishment.
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