Pew: Less Than Half of Americans Now Support the Death Penalty
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  Pew: Less Than Half of Americans Now Support the Death Penalty
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Author Topic: Pew: Less Than Half of Americans Now Support the Death Penalty  (Read 3554 times)
Frodo
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« on: October 24, 2016, 09:30:00 PM »

Support for death penalty lowest in more than four decades



BY BAXTER OLIPHANT

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Person Man
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« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2016, 10:03:46 PM »

Maybe there is a pro-life surge?
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Frodo
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« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2016, 10:07:47 PM »
« Edited: October 24, 2016, 10:10:11 PM by Frodo »

Wait until we have another crime surge like we saw in the late 20th century, then we'll see if this shift in attitude toward the death penalty is anything more than skin-deep.  
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RINO Tom
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« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2016, 10:40:39 PM »


I mean, I feel like you're joking but the country's shift in poll numbers toward being pro-life kind of matches that graph, doesn't it?  Like two thirds of Americans were pro-choice in the mid-'90s.
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Person Man
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« Reply #4 on: October 25, 2016, 10:03:48 AM »


I mean, I feel like you're joking but the country's shift in poll numbers toward being pro-life kind of matches that graph, doesn't it?  Like two thirds of Americans were pro-choice in the mid-'90s.

I think things are pretty steady with that issue now and it seems exit polls are actually going the other direction but I will agree with you that in the 90s, there seemed to be a lot of pro-choice, pro-deathpenalty people. Maybe it was because Bill Clinton was really good at triangulating between law and order and social liberalism.
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Figueira
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« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2016, 10:06:40 AM »

Great! Let's hope the trend continues!
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Grumpier Than Uncle Joe
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« Reply #6 on: October 25, 2016, 10:34:26 AM »

I'm in the less than half category. 
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Person Man
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« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2016, 11:10:21 AM »

And further- it looks like this is a real issue again.
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Kalwejt
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« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2016, 11:15:20 AM »

I remember reading somewhere in mid-60s less than half of population supported the death penalty as well. The situation was, at least in one way, similar with the number of executions dropping dramatically, until they ceased altogether in 1967.
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Zioneer
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« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2016, 12:02:02 PM »

I think a lot of the drop in support is due to statistics pointing out how those who get the death penalty are often actually innocent, and that death row is much more expensive than life in prison. And of course there's the pro-life argument against the death penalty, which is being accepted by those pro-lifers who don't want to be solely anti-abortion.
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Atlas Has Shrugged
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« Reply #10 on: October 25, 2016, 12:08:40 PM »

Good to see that more pro-lifers are becoming entirely pro-life. Even some of the most hardcore so-cons I  know seem to be softening on the death penalty. I'd imagine it has to do with the botched lethal injections.
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RFayette
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« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2016, 12:10:57 PM »

I'm in the less than half category. 
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Sumner 1868
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« Reply #12 on: October 25, 2016, 12:26:31 PM »

I remember reading somewhere in mid-60s less than half of population supported the death penalty as well. The situation was, at least in one way, similar with the number of executions dropping dramatically, until they ceased altogether in 1967.

The civil rights movement almost certainly explains that the views of that period.
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Goldwater
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« Reply #13 on: October 25, 2016, 04:00:10 PM »

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LLR
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« Reply #14 on: October 25, 2016, 04:03:49 PM »

HP

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Goldwater
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« Reply #15 on: October 25, 2016, 04:09:54 PM »


Are you calling us HPs, or are you saying that you are also in the less than half category?
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Ebowed
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« Reply #16 on: October 25, 2016, 04:22:15 PM »

The Democratic Party now has abolition of state-sanctioned murder in its platform.

May G*d give our Democratic politicians the good judgement and grace to see to it that the federal government finally ends this barbaric purification ritual.
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RINO Tom
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« Reply #17 on: October 25, 2016, 04:28:52 PM »

The Democratic Party now has abolition of state-sanctioned murder in its platform.

May G*d give our Democratic politicians the good judgement and grace to see to it that the federal government finally ends this barbaric purification ritual.

Is imprisonment legalized kidnapping?
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Ebowed
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« Reply #18 on: October 25, 2016, 04:43:50 PM »

The Democratic Party now has abolition of state-sanctioned murder in its platform.

May G*d give our Democratic politicians the good judgement and grace to see to it that the federal government finally ends this barbaric purification ritual.

Is imprisonment legalized kidnapping?

In a sense, absolutely.  That is the nature of the punishment, is it not?  We don't see prison as guaranteed shelter, food, and medical care; we see it as social isolation, enforced exclusion from wider society.

If the goal of our criminal justice system were to keep innocent people safe, we wouldn't imprison people for victimless crimes.  We wouldn't exacerbate a cycle of criminality by making it nearly impossible for these people to re-integrate.  We wouldn't disproportionately punish people on the basis of their color or socioeconomic status with draconian sentences that far exceed the extent of the original crime committed.

In the same sense, let's stop pretending that capital punishment is anything other than a purification ritual.

It doesn't deter crime.  If anything, it might have the opposite effect.

It doesn't bring back deceased victims.

It does, however, double the number of families grieving in any situation where someone has been murdered.

Let's call it what it is, and acknowledge that capital punishment is murder.
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LLR
LongLiveRock
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« Reply #19 on: October 25, 2016, 05:32:39 PM »


I'm calling the poll an HP, and agreeing with you fine men
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Figueira
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« Reply #20 on: October 25, 2016, 05:50:34 PM »


Why do you support the death penalty?
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LLR
LongLiveRock
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« Reply #21 on: October 25, 2016, 06:28:12 PM »


More humane than life imprisonment/solitary confinement, in my opinion.
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Cathcon
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« Reply #22 on: October 25, 2016, 06:48:05 PM »

Good.
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ProgressiveCanadian
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« Reply #23 on: October 25, 2016, 06:50:09 PM »


You still support it even though there are plenty of cases where innocent people have been executed? If someone was innocent i'd rather risk them in jail so we actually have a chance to release him. Nothing can be less humane then the death penalty, that's why most civilized countries have grown up and have gotten rid of Capital punishment.
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snowguy716
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« Reply #24 on: October 25, 2016, 06:56:54 PM »

I'd have to disagree.  You can make prisons humane and you can have programs that help rehabilitate prisoners.  Rewards and privileges for accomplishments and good behavior can also mean prison could be comfortable.  And educational and vocational opportunities could make for rewarding experiences for prisoners.

The state killing offenders risks putting innocent blood on everyone's hands.
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