According to a recent Maryland poll, a large major­i­ty of vot­ers in the state sup­port replac­ing the death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. The poll, con­duct­ed by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc., found that 61% of those sur­veyed believe that the sen­tence of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole is ​“an accept­able sub­sti­tute for the death penal­ty.” Only 27% of respon­dents dis­agreed. Support for life with­out parole in Maryland has jumped near­ly 20 per­cent­age points in less than a decade. Six years ago in a com­pa­ra­ble poll, only 43% sup­port­ed life with­out parole.

The poll was com­mis­sioned by the Maryland Catholic Conference, and it was released as Maryland leg­is­la­tors are con­sid­er­ing a bill to replace the state’s death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. The poll found that leg­is­la­tors who sup­port the repeal mea­sure will face no reper­cus­sions among vot­ers. Of those polled, 71% said that they would either be more like­ly to sup­port a leg­is­la­tor who vot­ed for the ban (29%) or it would not impact their vote (42%).

​“Clearly, the vot­ers real­ize that the sys­tem needs to be reformed and they will sup­port their leg­is­la­tors who decide it makes the most sense to end the death penal­ty,” said Dick Dowling, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Maryland Catholic Conference. The Conference not­ed that the polling results reflect a grow­ing dis­com­fort with the death penal­ty due to con­cerns about prob­lems such as wrong­ful con­vic­tions.

(Maryland Catholic Conference Press Release, ​“Maryland Voters Support Life Without Parole as Replacement for the Death Penalty by More Than 2‑to‑1 Margin,” February 28, 2007). 

See Public Opinion, Life Without Parole, and Recent Legislative Activity.

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