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Lukewarm Support for Death Penalty in Britain
Wednesday, 01 February 2006
Many Britons believe capital punishment should not be considered as an
option for specific crimes, according to a poll by Ipsos-MORI. 51 % of
respondents favour life in prison or a long sentence for murder in a
terrorist attack, while 46 % would choose the death penalty.
The percentage of respondents who support execution is lower for other
instances, ranging from 43 % for the murder of a child, to 3 % for mercy
killing. Support for capital punishment did not top 50 % in any of the 10
scenarios outlined in the survey.
Britain began a five-year moratorium on all death penalties from criminal
convictions in 1965, and made the suspension permanent in 1969.
Attempts to abolish the death penalty in Britain have been made since at least 1808, but each initiative was stalled at various stages of the legislative process. That said, even by 1861, there were only 4 civilian crimes - murder, treason, arson in royal dockyards, and piracy with violence - that were punishable by death.
Execution for any of 5 military offences - including "Serious Misconduct
in Action" and "Obstructing Operations or Giving False Air Signals" - was
repealed in 1998, though the last instance of its invocation occurred in
1942.
Polling Data
I am going to read out a list of various crimes and I would like you to
tell me what you think the sentence should be for each one. Should it be
the death penalty, a life prison sentence, a long prison sentence, a short
prison sentence, or should it be none of these?
Firstly for:
Death Penalty -- Life in prison -- Long sentence -- Short sentence
Murder in a terrorist attack: 46% 38% 13%
Murder of a child: 43% 43% 11%
Murder of a police officer on duty: 38% 43% 16%
Murder committed in prison while already serving a life sentence: 34% 42% 14% 2%
Serious sexual abuse of a child: 27% 42% 28%
Murder of an adult stranger: 23% 50% 24% 1%
Kidnap of a child: 9% 29% 54% 6%
Serious sexual abuse of an adult stranger: 7% 34% 53% 3%
Murder of a spouse in a fit of rage: 7% 23% 49% 13%
Mercy killing / Euthanasia: 3% 6% 7% 33%
[Source: Ipsos-MORI; Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,001 British adults, conducted from Jan. 12 to Jan. 17, 2006. No margin of error was provided.]
(source: Angus Reid Consultants)