death penalty thoughts by an englishman

[heckster]

i live in england and am so fortunate we don't have the death sentence anymore, as is the same with all Europe. there are some calls for it but i feel generally most are against it.
i write and support many folks on the row.
what i cant find though is what the average American thinks about the death penalty. i see and visit many anti sites . and i very briefly look at pro sites but they are too sick and upsetting to look at for more than a few seconds.
so any opinions on what the public really think i would like to hear. what sort of press does it get? over here all people i know think its horrific . theres always the doubt of guilt factor to vote against it but even if someone is 100% guilty, no question, a Gacy etc. it doesn't matter for me, we have no right to take a life. well Ive gone on enough! any views will be welcome and enlightening

[happyhaddock]

In surveys, a majority of Americans are for the DP, however when the alternatives are death or life without parole, LWOP is the preferred choice. The US system is very broken and justice is not an outcome which is sought - police, prosecutors and judges are promoted for getting convictions, not for achieving justice.

[mikemarshall]

Public opinion has almost no influence on the legislators and other authorities of any country.

If it did, many things in society would be entirely different.

As an Englishman myself I have to query your assertion that most of my countryfolk oppose the death penalty.

Even though I am opposed to capital punishment, I am under no illusions that the majority of my fellow-Britons share my views.

I believe when the most recent opinion poll was taken around two-thirds of British people supported a return to the death penalty.