U.S. death penalty popularity dropping

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. death penalty popularity dropping
WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- Several U.S. states have suspended carrying out death sentences as capital punishment undergoes another round of judicial inquiries.

Eight of the 38 states that have the death penalty on their books have stopped the practice because of a series of legal moves, including three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, Stateline.org reported.

A Gallup poll last October showed that 64 percent of U.S. respondents favored the death penalty but that is down from 80 percent in 1994.

Stateline said concern that an innocent person may be put to death may be behind the reduction in the number of death sentences. A non-profit group against the death penalty told Stateline there were about 96 death sentences handed down last year, a 70-percent drop from 1995.

Technology has also played a role, with DNA evidence leading to the exoneration of more than 120 people on death row.
(snip/...)

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060323-105317-8217r

[mokaye]

1. Good!

I have always been against the death penalty.
Being in/from Texas has made this a less than popular belief.

[ladjf]

2. This is encouraging news. No society should resort

to capital punishment to deal with their criminals.

[Radio_Guy]

4. Agreed, ladjf

This country still kills children in the name of "justice." It is past time for the death penalty to be outlawed. No one deserves that kind of cruel and unusual punishment.

[ladjf]

5. I literally feel ill each time I read about an execution. It makes

me so ashamed of our wonderful Country. It lets me know how far we've got to travel to reach a level that could accurately be described as being civilized.

[phusion]

7. agreed n/t

[Demeter]

3. Too Many Repubs Qualify!

That would make for a sea change, all right. Sauce for the gander, and all that. Wait 'til we get to the War Crimes!

[ladjf]

6. As angry as I am at the Bush administration for their criminal

behavior, I wouldn't want them to be executed. It would be global mental therapy, however, if they were to be imprisoned for long terms and stripped of their wealth.

[rodeodance]

8. This IS great. the public is way ahead of politians on this one.

[Lexingtonian]

9. The tickdown in support for capital punishment

for garden variety murderers is 1% of the electorate per year. In the next 15 years we'll see a lot of abolition of the dp happening on the state level.

[okieinpain]

10. well that sucks, I kinda like being called names on DU.