More Than Two-Thirds of Americans Continue to Support the Death Penalty, According to New Harris Poll Results
January 07 2004 - 2:44PM
PR Newswire (US)
More Than Two-Thirds of Americans Continue to Support the Death
Penalty, According to New Harris Poll Results They support it even
though only a minority thinks it is a deterrent and almost everyone
believes that innocent people are sometimes convicted of murder
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Support for the death
penalty remains very strong in the United States, even though
almost everyone believes that innocent people are sometimes
convicted of murder, and only a minority believes it is a
deterrent. The last few years have seen many reports of people
being released from prison after DNA tests showed they were
innocent of murders or rapes for which they had been wrongly
convicted many years before. The state of Illinois has imposed a
moratorium on capital punishment. But a large 69% to 22% majority
of the public still favors capital punishment and this majority is
actually somewhat higher than it was in 2001 and in 2000 (when it
had fallen to 64% to 25%). This majority support for the death
penalty holds even though almost everyone (95%) believes that
innocent people are sometimes convicted of murder. On average they
believe that 11% of all those convicted are innocent. But the
two-thirds of the public who support the death penalty seem to feel
that that is an acceptable price to pay. Certainly, there are some
inconsistencies in public attitudes toward the death penalty, as
there are on many issues. Only just over one third of the public
(37%) say, when asked, that they would still support the death
penalty if they believed "that quite a substantial number of
innocent people are convicted of murder" and about half (47%) say
they would oppose it. But if 11% are wrongly convicted, is that not
"substantial"? Based on this and other polls, it seems very
unlikely that a majority of Americans will actually oppose capital
punishment any time soon, leaving the United States as the only
western democracy which executes murderers. These are some results
of The Harris Poll(R) of 993 adults, surveyed by telephone by
Harris Interactive(R) between December 10 and 16, 2003. Other
interesting results of this poll are: * Only 41% of all adults
believe that the death penalty deters people from committing murder
-- the smallest number from among all of The Harris Polls that
asked this question in the last 27 years. * A 36% plurality would
still like to see an increase in the number of executions (versus
21% who favor a decrease, and 33% no change). * African Americans
believe that, on average, 23% of murder convictions are of innocent
people, compared to 9% among whites and 16% among Hispanics. TABLE
1 BELIEVE IN CAPITAL PUNISHMENT "Do you believe in capital
punishment, that is the death penalty, or are you opposed to it?"
Base: All Adults Dec 1965 1969 1970 1973 1976 1983 1997 1999 2000
2001 2003 % % % % % % % % % % % Believe in it 38 48 47 59 67 68 75
71 64 67 69 Opposed to it 47 38 42 31 25 27 22 21 25 26 22 Not
sure/Refused 15 14 11 10 8 5 3 8 11 7 9 TABLE 2 IS CAPITAL
PUNISHMENT A DETERRENT? "Do you feel that executing people who
commit murder deters others from committing murder, or do you think
such executions don't have much effect?" Base: All Adults Dec 1976
1983 1997 1999 2000 2001 2003 % % % % % % % Deters others 59 63 49
47 44 42 41 Not much effect 34 32 49 49 50 52 53 Not sure/Refused 7
5 2 4 7 7 6 TABLE 3 FAVOR INCREASE/DECREASE IN NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS
"In general, would you like to see an increase or decrease in the
number of convicted criminals who are executed, or no change?"
Base: All Adults Dec 1997 1999 2000 2001 2003 % % % % % Increase 53
43 36 35 36 Decrease 14 21 22 26 21 No change 27 28 31 30 33 Don't
know/Refused 6 7 11 8 11 TABLE 4 ARE INNOCENT PEOPLE SOMETIMES
CONVICTED OF MURDER? "Do you think that innocent people are
sometimes convicted of murder or that this never happens?" Base:
All Adults Dec 1999 2000 2001 2003 % % % % Sometimes happens 95 94
94 95 Never happens 3 5 3 4 Don't know/Refused 1 1 3 2 TABLE 5 WHAT
PERCENT OF PEOPLE CONVICTED OF MURDER ARE INNOCENT? (Mean, or
average, responses) "For every one hundred people convicted of
murder, how many would you guess are actually innocent?" Base:
Believe innocent people sometimes convicted of murder (95%)
December 1999 2000 2001 2003 All Adults 11 % 13 % 12 % 11 % Sex Men
8 % 10 % 9 % 10 % Women 13 % 15 % 14 % 13 % Race/Ethnicity White 10
% 11 % 10 % 9 % African-American 18 % 22 % 22 % 23 % Hispanic 11 %
12 % 15 % 16 % Education High school or less 13 % 14 % 14 % 13 %
Some college 9 % 12 % 10 % 11 % College graduate 6 % 9 % 10 % 7 %
Post graduate 7 % 10 % 8 % 10 % Party Republican 7 % 10 % 9 % 6 %
Democrat 12 % 13 % 15 % 12 % Independent 8 % 12 % 11 % 13 % TABLE 6
POTENTIAL IMPACT OF BELIEF THAT INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE CONVICTED ON
ATTITUDES TO DEATH PENALTY "If you believed that quite a
substantial number of innocent people are convicted of murder,
would you then believe in or oppose the death penalty for murder?"
Base: Believe innocent people sometimes convicted of murder (95%)
Dec 2000 2001 2003 % % % Would believe in 53 36 39* Would oppose 36
53 51** Don't know/Refused 11 11 9 * This represents 37% of all
adults. ** This represented 47% of all adults. Methodology The
Harris Poll(R) was conducted by telephone within the United States
between December 10 and 16, 2003 among a nationwide cross-section
of 993 adults (ages 18+). Figures for age, sex, race, education,
number of adults and number of voice/telephone lines in the
household were weighted where necessary to align them with their
actual proportions in the population. In theory, with a probability
sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the
results have a statistical precision of +/- 3 percentage points of
what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled
with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other
possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably
more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They
include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording
and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic
control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is
impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these
factors. These statements conform to the principles of disclosure
of the National Council on Public Polls. About Harris
Interactive(R) Harris Interactive
(http://www.harrisinteractive.com/) is a worldwide market research
and consulting firm best known for The Harris Poll(R), and for
pioneering the Internet method to conduct scientifically accurate
market research. Headquartered in Rochester, New York, U.S.A.,
Harris Interactive combines proprietary methodologies and
technology with expertise in predictive, custom and strategic
research. The Company conducts international research through
wholly owned subsidiaries -- London-based HI Europe
(http://www.hieurope.com/) and Tokyo-based Harris Interactive Japan
-- as well as through the Harris Interactive Global Network of
local market- and opinion- research firms, and various U.S.
offices. EOE M/F/D/V To become a member of the Harris Poll
Online(SM) and be invited to participate in future online surveys,
visit http://www.harrispollonline.com/ . DATASOURCE: Harris
Interactive CONTACT: Nancy Wong of Harris Interactive,
+1-585-214-7316, Web site: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/
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