According to a new report and opin­ion poll issued today by the Death Penalty Information Center, the American pub­lic is los­ing con­fi­dence in the death penal­ty as doubts about inno­cence and the pur­pose of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment increase. The report, A Crisis of Confidence: Americans’ Doubts About the Death Penalty, is based on a recent nation­al opin­ion poll con­duct­ed by RT Strategies and com­mis­sioned by DPIC.

​“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.

Key poll findings include:

  • Almost 40% of the pub­lic believe that they would be dis­qual­i­fied from serv­ing on a jury in a death penal­ty case because of their moral beliefs. Among sub-groups such as women, African-Americans, and Catholics, the per­cent­age who believe they would be exclud­ed is even high­er. These find­ings raise seri­ous ques­tions about whether defen­dants are being judged by ​“a jury of their peers.”
  • A sig­nif­i­cant major­i­ty (58%) believe it is time for a mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty while the process under­goes a careful review.
  • An over­whelm­ing 69% of the pub­lic believes that reforms will not elim­i­nate all wrong­ful con­vic­tions and executions. 
  • Almost 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. 
  • Among those who had changed their posi­tion on the death penal­ty over the last ten years, more peo­ple became oppo­nents of the death penal­ty than pro­po­nents by a mar­gin of 3 to 2. Support has been less­ened because of the many DNA exon­er­a­tions that have occurred. 

The poll sam­ple includ­ed 1,000 adults nation­wide and the mar­gin of error was +3.1%.
(Posted June 9, 2007). Read the Report and Press Release. See also Reports, Innocence, and Public Opinion.

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