For the first time in more than three decades of polling, a majority of Americans prefer life in prison over the death penalty, even though a majority still consider capital punishment an acceptable option, a newly published Gallup poll showed on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2019) For the first time in more than three decades of polling, a majority of Americans prefer life in prison over the death penalty, even though a majority still consider capital punishment an acceptable option, a newly published Gallup poll showed on Monday."Even as Americans have shifted to viewing life imprisonment without parole as preferable to execution, a majority still favor use of the death penalty, according to Gallup's long-term death penalty trend question," Gallup said in a press release.
In a trend poll dating back to 1985, the latest survey for the first time shows a majority of US adults, 60 percent, saying that life without parole is a better punishment than execution for defendants convicted of capital crimes, the release said.
Nevertheless, 56 percent still broadly favor execution as the penalty for convicted murderers, the release added.
During the 1980s and 1990s, consistent majorities thought the death penalty was the better option for murderers, according to the release.
