In a recent opin­ion poll con­duct­ed by Elon University in North Carolina, less than half of those polled believe that the the death penal­ty is the ​“most appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for first degree mur­der.” When the same ques­tion was asked in 2005, 61% chose the death penal­ty as the appro­pri­ate sen­tence. In 2009, that num­ber had dropped to 48%, the same per­cent­age record­ed in the University’s 2007 poll. ​“I would imag­ine the dif­fer­ence in opin­ion on our sur­veys is some­what attrib­ut­able to a real­iza­tion among the pub­lic of the fal­li­bil­i­ty of the process or sys­tem, or at least an increased aware­ness about those cas­es in which peo­ple con­vict­ed of crimes and serv­ing sen­tences were lat­er exon­er­at­ed,” said poll­ster Hunter Bacot. About 39% said life in prison with­out parole would be the bet­ter pun­ish­ment in 2009, an increase from the 27% who sup­port­ed that option in 2005.

(R. Teaguebeck, ​“The drop in death penal­ty sup­port,” News Observer, March 5, 2009). See Public Opinion.

Citation Guide