Poll: Americans support death penalty

ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 18 (UPI) -- More than three in five Americans say they believe in capital punishment for condemned killers, a U.S. poll found.

A Harris poll determined that 63 percent of Americans say they support the death penalty while 30 percent said they are opposed to capital punishment.

Moreover, the poll found 52 percent of respondents said they believe executing murderers does not dissuade others from killing, while 42 percent said executing killers does deter others from committing murder.

The poll of 1,010 adults was conducted Feb. 5-11. The margin of error was not reported.

The number of Americans who say they believe in the death penalty has declined since 2003, Harris said, attributing the decline to some high-profile cases in which death row inmates were found to be innocent.

But in 1965, when the Harris Poll begin asking the question, 47 percent of respondents said they were opposed to the death penalty, while 38 percent said they believed in it.