Support for Executions Declines

A majority of Americans favor a moratorium on executions until questions of fairness in how the death penalty is applied are resolved, according to a new survey conducted by a bipartisan group of pollsters.

Even many Americans who described themselves as strong supporters of the death penalty said in the poll that they would favor suspending executions for now. Overall, 53% of those surveyed said they favored a nationwide suspension of executions until a study is completed on the fairness of how the death penalty is used; 29% were opposed.

Several other national and state polls in the last year have indicated a softening of support for the death penalty, but the new survey is the first to specifically ask nationwide about support for a moratorium.

The poll was conducted by Peter D. Hart Research, a Democratic polling firm, and American Viewpoint, a Republican polling firm headed by Linda Divall. It was released by the Justice Project, a nonprofit group working to prevent wrongful executions, and by members of Congress who back a pending measure that would require that defendants facing the death penalty be represented by a qualified attorney and that would give inmates broader access to DNA testing.

The survey of 802 voters was conducted from Aug. 18 to 23. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

The poll showed that a majority of Americans still favor capital punishment. Of those surveyed, 31% said they fully support the death penalty; 29% said they support it with reservations; 21% said they were against capital punishment and the remaining 19% said they were unsure.

That finding is consistent with a Gallup poll, taken in March, that found 66% of Americans support the death penalty--a 19-year low according to Gallup’s surveys.

Other surveys have found declining support for the death penalty in California, Illinois, Kentucky and Alabama among other states. A Scripps-Howard Poll conducted in June found that 57% of Texans surveyed believe that the state--far and away the national leader in capital punishment--has executed someone who was innocent.

The new poll comes after nearly two years of increasing media coverage about individuals around the country--now 87--who had been sentenced to death and later exonerated as a result of DNA tests or other types of newly discovered evidence.

Perhaps as a result, the poll found that Americans are currently more worried that an innocent person will be executed by mistake than that a guilty one will avoid execution. Of those surveyed, 69% said they were more worried about an innocent person being wrongly executed. Only 24% said their biggest concern was that a guilty person would escape the death penalty.

“While the Congress seems reluctant to confront it, these survey results show that most Americans are now appalled at the prospect that we are executing innocent people,” said Rep. William D. Delahunt (D-Mass.), a former prosecutor.

Delahunt described as “the most stunning news” in the survey a finding that 55% of poll respondents said it was not enough just to require access to DNA testing without ensuring access to a competent and experienced defense lawyer. There is “a deep public understanding that, while DNA testing is critical, it is not always available or even relevant--and that these tragic mistakes will continue unless we improve the quality of legal representation in capital cases,” he said.

Among those joining Delahunt at the news conference were Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), his co-author on the Innocence Protection Act in the House, and Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), who are pushing a companion bill in the upper house.

Smith described himself as among those who favored the death penalty with reservations. He said the pending legislation would serve the goal of achieving equal justice for all “without weakening law enforcement’s ability to capture, try, and if necessary, execute those who are truly guilty.”

Support for a moratorium appears to be bipartisan with 50% of Republicans and 70% of Democrats questioned now favoring a moratorium.

Nationwide, support for a moratorium on executions rose to 64% when people being surveyed were told that “in several instances, criminals sentenced to be executed have been released based on new evidence or DNA testing.” In response to that question, even 49% of those who described themselves as “strong supporters” of the death penalty favored a moratorium until fairness has been studied.