Reuters has an interesting article on what appears to be a slow-down in the use of the death penalty in the United States.
This year's total of 59 is down 40 percent from five years ago. The all-time high since the reinstatement of the U.S. death penalty in 1976 was 98 executions in 1999. Last year there were 65 executions in the United States.
The slow down appears to be real, and significant over the last several years. Whether it's indicative of any on going trend is subject to debate.
I think at this point it would be interesting to see some sort of analysis of public opinion of the death penalty. The evidence in this article of a changing attitude is anecdotal; it would be useful to see something more firm.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
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Polls still show this to be one of the few things Americans are actually more conservative on than liberal, but at the same time, many feel the system is unfair and would favor a "life without parole" option in many cases.
I figured as much, but I'd like to see some specific polling on this issue, or some analysis of past polling, to track changes in American opinion. I suspect that favor of the death penalty is slowing declining, but I'd like to know how quickly(if at all.)
Just saw a new Quinnipiac University Poll on the death penalty. It had 62% in favor (which is down) with 29% opposing, but a 46% to 42% plurarity to in favor of life without parole over the death penalty.
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