Support for restoration of the death penalty in Great Britain, even when the murder victim is a police officer, has fallen below 50% for the first time since its abolition four decades ago. According to a YouGov poll conducted for The Daily Telegraph, the number of people who oppose capital punishment even when the victim is a police officer has risen to 43%. The figure is a dramatic changed from the 20% who voiced opposition to the death penalty in a 1960 poll conducted by Gallup. Only 49% of those polled support the death penalty for those who murder police officers, down from 70% in 1960. The poll found that the highest levels of opposition to capital punishment were measured among Great Britain’s youth and those who are members of the nation’s Labour party. England suspended the death penalty in 1965 and abolished it in 1969. (Telegraph News, January 3, 2006).
See Public Opinion and International.
- Death Penalty Information Center (2025, March 14). PUBLIC OPINION: British Support for Death Penalty At Lowest Level in 40 Years. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/public-opinion-british-support-for-death-penalty-at-lowest-level-in-40-years
- Death Penalty Information Center. “PUBLIC OPINION: British Support for Death Penalty At Lowest Level in 40 Years.” Last modified March 14, 2025. Accessed October 2, 2026. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/public-opinion-british-support-for-death-penalty-at-lowest-level-in-40-years.
- Death Penalty Information Center. “PUBLIC OPINION: British Support for Death Penalty At Lowest Level in 40 Years.” Death Penalty Information Center, 14 Mar. 2025, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/public-opinion-british-support-for-death-penalty-at-lowest-level-in-40-years. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.
