A recent Harris Poll found that only 41% of Americans believe that the death penalty deters crime, marking the smallest number of such respondents in 27 years of this poll. Only 37% of those polled would continue to support capital punishment if they believed “that quite a substantial number of innocent people are convicted of murder.” Overall, 69% percent of those polled said that they support capital punishment. The poll was conducted in December 2003. (PR Newswire, January 7, 2004) See Public Opinion.
Citation Guide
- Death Penalty Information Center (2025, March 14). PUBLIC OPINION: Americans More Skeptical of Any Deterrent Effect of Death Penalty. Retrieved October 3, 2026, from https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/public-opinion-americans-more-skeptical-of-any-deterrent-effect-of-death-penalty
- Death Penalty Information Center. “PUBLIC OPINION: Americans More Skeptical of Any Deterrent Effect of Death Penalty.” Last modified March 14, 2025. Accessed October 3, 2026. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/public-opinion-americans-more-skeptical-of-any-deterrent-effect-of-death-penalty.
- Death Penalty Information Center. “PUBLIC OPINION: Americans More Skeptical of Any Deterrent Effect of Death Penalty.” Death Penalty Information Center, 14 Mar. 2025, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/public-opinion-americans-more-skeptical-of-any-deterrent-effect-of-death-penalty. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.