National Polls

Polling Prior to the Abolition of the Juvenile Death Penalty Showed that Only a Minority of Americans Supported the Execution of Juvenile Offenders

A series of pub­lic opin­ion polls con­duct­ed in the years lead­ing up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s abo­li­tion of the juve­nile death penal­ty showed that only about a third of Americans sup­port­ed the use of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment against those who were younger than 18 years old at the time of their crime. The sur­vey results includ­ed the following:

  • A fall 2001 National Opinion Research Center poll found that while 62% of respon­dents favored the death penal­ty in gen­er­al, only 34% sup­port­ed the exe­cu­tion of juve­nile offend­ers. In a series of fol­low-up ques­tions that fur­ther probed respon­dents about their posi­tions, it was deter­mined that the oppo­si­tion to the juve­nile death penal­ty was firmer (89.5% of respon­dents did not change their posi­tion) than sup­port for the death penal­ty gen­er­al­ly (67% unchanged after follow-up questions).
  • A sim­i­lar 2001 poll con­duct­ed by Princeton Survey Research Associates revealed that while 72% of those polled sup­port­ed the death penal­ty, only 38% sup­port­ed it when applied to ​“juve­niles younger than 18.”
  • A May 2002 Gallup poll found 72% sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in gen­er­al, but that sup­port dropped to 26% for juve­niles con­vict­ed of mur­der, 19% for the men­tal­ly ill, and 13% for the men­tal­ly retard­ed (now known as ​“intel­lec­tu­al­ly disabled”).

(Tom W. Smith, Director of the General Social Survey, National Opinion Research Center, Chicago Tribune, December 7, 2003)

An ABC Poll Showed the Public Opposed the Death Penalty for Lee Malvo in Washington-area Sniper Shootings

A December 2003 poll con­duct­ed by ABC News revealed that only 37% of the pub­lic sup­port­ed the death penal­ty for Lee Boyd Malvo, who had recent­ly been con­vict­ed of mur­der in Virginia. Malvo was 17 at the time of a series of shoot­ings in the Washington, DC area. 52% of respon­dents pre­ferred a sen­tence of life with­out parole for Malvo. The poll revealed even stronger oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty for juve­niles in gen­er­al: only 21% were in favor of the death penal­ty for juve­niles, ver­sus 62% who pre­ferred the sen­tence of life with­out parole. The poll was con­duct­ed Dec. 10 – 14 (ABC News, Dec. 19, 2003).

A CNN /​Time Magazine Poll Showed a Wide Difference on the Death Penalty for the Adult Sniper Defendant Compared to Malvo

A Harris Interactive sur­vey for CNN and Time mag­a­zine con­duct­ed in November 2002 found that 51% of respon­dents sup­port­ed the death penal­ty for sus­pect­ed Beltway sniper John Lee Malvo (who was a juve­nile at the time of the crime) if he was found guilty, while 43 % favored life in prison. A sig­nif­i­cant­ly high­er per­cent­age (72%) of respon­dents sup­port­ed the death penal­ty for sus­pect John Allen Muhammad, with 23% favor­ing life in prison. (National Journal, November 2, 2002)

2002 Gallup Poll Probing National Opinion on the Death Penalty

A May 2002 nation­al death penal­ty poll con­duct­ed by the Gallup Organization found that, while the major­i­ty of Americans expressed sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, they opposed exe­cut­ing those with men­tal retar­da­tion (now ​“intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty”), who are men­tal­ly ill, or who were juve­niles at the time of their crime. Only about half of Americans said they believed the death penal­ty was applied fair­ly. The poll found that 69% of Americans opposed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for juve­nile offend­ers. (Gallup News Service, May 20, 2002). To see the com­plete results of this poll, vis­it the Gallup Web site (this link requires a subscription).

State Polls

ARIZONA: Arizonans Support Exempting Juveniles and those with Mental Retardation from Execution; Favor Moratorium.

A July 2000 poll by the Behavior Research Center found that sup­port for the death penal­ty in Arizona dropped sig­nif­i­cant­ly when respon­dents were asked about spe­cif­ic cir­cum­stances or cat­e­gories of offend­ers. The poll found that 42% of respon­dents opposed the death penal­ty if the con­vict­ed mur­der­er was a juve­nile offend­er, while only 37% sup­port­ed its use in those cir­cum­stances. (Behavior Research Center, July 2000).

GEORGIA: Georgians Oppose Juvenile Death Penalty

A January 2003 University of Georgia poll found that 60% of Georgians favored try­ing to reha­bil­i­tate young offend­ers rather than exe­cut­ing them. Only 23% of respon­dents said courts should be allowed to give chil­dren the death penal­ty. In addi­tion, 81% of those polled said they believed that judges should be grant­ed greater flex­i­bil­i­ty in sen­tenc­ing con­vict­ed chil­dren than would be per­mit­ted under the manda­to­ry sen­tenc­ing rules used for adults. At the time, Georgia law required juve­niles ages 13 to 18-years-old to be tried in adult court and face adult penal­ties when they were accused of sev­en vio­lent crimes, such as mur­der and rape. (The Augusta Chronicle, January 17, 2003)

KENTUCKY: Majority of Kentuckians Oppose Juvenile Death Penalty

An October 2002 poll by the University of Kentucky’s Survey Research Center found that 63% of respon­dents said they strong­ly favored or some­what favored leg­is­la­tion that would restrict the death penal­ty to those 18 years or old­er; 32% some­what opposed or strong­ly opposed such leg­is­la­tion. (The Courier-Journal, October 25, 2002)

OKLAHOMA: Oklahomans Support Ban on Execution of Juvenile Offenders

An April 2003 poll of Oklahoma res­i­dents revealed that 62.8% of those sur­veyed would sup­port a leg­isla­tive ban on the exe­cu­tion of juve­nile offend­ers if the alter­na­tive sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole were offered. The polling results were released short­ly before Oklahoma car­ried out the exe­cu­tion of a juve­nile offend­er, Scott Allen Hain. (The Oklahoman, April 3, 2003)