Death: An eye for an eye

Posted by Mark Silva at 11:30 am CDT

Thirty years after the Supreme Court ruling that enabled states to reinstate the death penalty in the United States, about two-thirds of Americans still voice support for capital punishment for people convicted of murder.

While support is strong, it is not as strong as it was a decade ago. And many Americans are ready to accept life imprisonment as an alternative to death – when a life term is posed as an option in a murderer’s sentencing, support for death slips to 47 percent, with 48 percent supporting life. These are among the findings of a recent Gallup Poll, as the 30th anniversary of the July 2, 1976, ruling in Gregg v. Georgia nears. That ruling became a trigger for many states ready to resume capital punishment.

Gallup has traced public support for capital punishment through the years.

In 1936, Gallup first asked if Americans favor the death penalty for murder. Fifty-nine percent said yes and 38 percent no.

Through the 1930s, about 60% of Americans supported capital punishment.

In 1953, Gallup started asking a standardized question: "Are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder?" Sixty-eight percent said yes.

In the late 1950s and into the ‘70s, support waned. The percentage of Americans in favor of the death penalty ranged from 42% to 54%.

A Supreme Court ruling in 1972, in the case of Furman v. Georgia, held that death sentences could be "cruel and unusual" if they were arbitrary, too severe for the crime, or not more effective than a less severe penalty. However, that ruling stopped short of declaring the death penalty unconstitutional.

In 1976, the court ruled that the death penalty was in fact constitutional.

Since then, support has increased.

A Gallup Poll before the Gregg decision found 66% of Americans in favor – the highest level of support measured since 1953.

As capital punishment increased in the 1980s, public support grew – to over 70 percent in 1985 and a high of 80 percent in 1994. Support has declined since the mid-90s and has held steady at about two-thirds for the better part of a decade.