| Submit your comments on this article |
| Britain |
| More than half of Britons want return of the death penalty poll reveals |
| 2011-08-07 |
| A majority of British people support the return of the death penalty, a Mail on Sunday poll has found. As MPs prepare for a likely Commons debate on capital punishment later this year, the first since 1998, the survey shows that 53 per cent of voters back its reintroduction. Just 34 per cent are opposed to the move. The last hangings in Britain were in 1964, but the issue has risen up the political agenda again as a result of the e-petitions scheme, an initiative that allows the public to help set the Government agenda and means anyone can set up an internet petition on any subject. If it attracts more than 100,000 signatures, MPs must consider debating it in the Commons, and the return of the death penalty heads the list of demands, with more than 40 of the first 200 petitions calling for it. The Survation poll reveals a striking gender divide over the issue: while 63 per cent of men back the move, just 44 per cent of women are in favour. And preferences for the manner of execution have clearly changed in the half-century since the last judicially sanctioned deaths. When asked which method they preferred – regardless of their views on the ethics of the issue – an overwhelming 66 per cent opted for lethal injection, which is widely assumed to be the most humane technique. Only 12 per cent still think that hanging should be used. Nearly half, 48 per cent, of those asked believe that murders and other serious offences would go down if it were reintroduced, while 32 per cent think the level would stay the same. Mass murder, child murder, terrorism and war crimes are the main offences deemed deserving of the ‘ultimate sanction’. The poll also reveals other clear trends: the death penalty is more popular among older people than the young; and is least popular in the south of the UK. Only 41 per cent of Lib Dem voters are in favour, compared with 45 per cent of Labour backers, 67 per cent of Conservatives and 72 per cent of UKIP supporters. But an overwhelming majority of all voters, 82 per cent, believe that the current justice system is too lenient. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |