{"id":13492,"date":"2009-09-21T11:02:14","date_gmt":"2009-09-21T16:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=13492"},"modified":"2009-09-21T11:08:22","modified_gmt":"2009-09-21T16:08:22","slug":"americans-support-for-the-death-penalty-1937-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2009\/09\/21\/americans-support-for-the-death-penalty-1937-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans’ Support for the Death Penalty, 1937-2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

I found this graph of public support for the death penalty over time at the Gallup Poll website<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"death<\/p>\n

I’m not sure what the “2828” and “3030” are at the right-hand side of the “% Against” line–perhaps they didn’t round off the %s? I looked at the specific %s given in a table and that seems to fit–that they were supposed to be 28% and 30% and somehow weren’t entered correctly.<\/p>\n

Some other questions that were asked:<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, do you believe the death penalty is applied fairly or unfairly in this country today?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n\n

Fairly<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Unfairly<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

No opinion<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\u00a0<\/td>\n\n

%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2008 Oct 3-5<\/td>\n\n

54<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

38<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2007 Oct 4-7<\/td>\n\n

57<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

38<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2006 May 8-11<\/td>\n\n

60<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

35<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

2005 May 2-5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

61<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

35<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2004 May 2-4<\/td>\n\n

55<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

39<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2003 May 5-7<\/td>\n\n

60<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

37<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2002 May 6-9<\/td>\n\n

53<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

40<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2000 Jun 23-25<\/td>\n\n

51<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

41<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Asked about if the person believes an innocent person has been executed in the past 5 years:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Yes, in past
\nfive years<\/strong><\/td>\n

\n

No, not<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

No
\nopinion<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2006 May 8-11<\/td>\n\n

63%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

27<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

2005 May 2-5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

59%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

33<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2003 May 5-7<\/td>\n\n

73%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

22<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Do you feel that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to the commitment of murder, that it lowers the murder rate, or not?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Yes, does<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

No, does not<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

No opinion<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\u00a0<\/td>\n\n

%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

2006 May 8-11<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

34<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

64<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2004 May 2-4<\/td>\n\n

35<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

62<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

1991 Jun 13-16<\/td>\n\n

51<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

41<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

1986 Jan 10-13<\/td>\n\n

61<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

32<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

1985 Jan 11-14<\/td>\n\n

62<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

31<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The answer to that last question is interesting in that it indicates people do not, in general, support the death penalty because they believe it reduces the likelihood of more murders. The most common response to why people support it is based on a retaliation\/”eye for an eye” principle, not deterrance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

May
\n19-21,
\n2003<\/strong><\/td>\n

\n

Feb
\n19-21,
\n2001<\/strong><\/td>\n

\n

Feb
\n14-15,
\n2000<\/strong><\/td>\n

\n

Jun.
\n13-16,
\n1991<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\u00a0<\/td>\n\n

%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

An eye for an eye\/They took a life\/Fits the crime<\/em><\/td>\n\n

37<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

48<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

40<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

40<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found this graph of public support for the death penalty over time at the Gallup Poll website: I’m not sure what the “2828” and “3030” are at the right-hand side of the “% Against” line–perhaps they didn’t round off the %s? I looked at the specific %s given in a table and that seems […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2056,253,85,693],"class_list":["post-13492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crimelaw","tag-history","tag-politics","tag-public-opinion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13492"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13501,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13492\/revisions\/13501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}