News
| Poll: N.C. residents reject death penalty |
| Respondents favor life without parole and restitution |
| Published Monday, March 4, 2013 6:42 pm |
North Carolinians would rather have convicted killers pay restitution to their victims’ families if they spend the rest of their lives behind bars, according to a new poll.
A survey by Public Policy Polling found 68 percent of North Carolina residents support replacing the death penalty with life in prison without parole, if offenders are required to work and pay restitution to the families of their victims. A majority of respondents who identified themselves as politically conservative said they favor ending the death penalty and redirecting dollars spent on it to helping victims.
“All over the country, the death penalty is rapidly losing support, and North Carolina is no exception,” said Tye Hunter, executive director of the Durham-based Center for Death Penalty Litigation, which provides free legal representation to death row inmates. “Sensible people of all political affiliations see that the death penalty is not effective in deterring crime and is a poor use of taxpayer money.”
Public Policy Polling surveyed 600 North Carolinians by telephone between Feb. 7-10. Forty-four percent of respondents identified themselves as conservative while 26 percent identified as liberal. The remainder called themselves moderates. The poll revealed:
• 68 percent supported ending the death penalty so defendants could work and pay restitution.
• 63 percent supported ending the death penalty if the money now spent on capital punishment was redirected to crime fighting.
• 55 percent supported ending the death penalty if the money was redirected to solving cold cases and assisting victims.
Among conservatives, support for abolishing capital punishment was strongest if offenders were required to pay restitution. Sixty-five percent of those who called themselves “somewhat conservative” and 50 percent of those who were “very conservative” supported switching to life in prison without parole.
“The days when the death penalty enjoyed near-universal support are clearly over. Across the country, poll after poll has shown that,” said Tom Jensen, director of Public Policy Polling. “These results show that people in North Carolina are willing to consider alternatives to capital punishment.”
More states are moving toward abolishing capital punishment. Maryland is on the verge of becoming the fifth state to abolish the death penalty in six years. No one has been executed in North Carolina since 2006 and no new death sentences were handed down in 2012, which hadn’t happened in 35 years. There are 152 men and women on North Carolina’s death row.
“The goal of both parties is to keep the people of North Carolina safe, and it is clear that the death penalty is no longer the best way to do that,” Hunter said. “It’s time to work together to find more efficient and effective ways to deter crime and help victims.”
Comments
| Seems like those who claim to be pro-life are actually pro-death, a bunch of dangerous psychopaths.(look it up) NO regard for the corruption of the system condemning innocent people, that is worse than a murder. The issue is moral but apparently God telling us not to kill holds no sway with those who seethe with revenge and have no real faith. Such anger should not rule. I'm happy NC has shown some heart. |
| Posted on March 6, 2013 |
| Actually, the death penalty as a deterrent argument is long dead. States without the death penalty have lower homicide rates than those that have the death penalty. The US, which has the death penalty, also has a much higher homicide than most countries without it. So, having the death penalty most likely just doesn't have an impact on homicide rates. |
| Posted on March 6, 2013 |
| The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents Dudley Sharp The death penalty has a foundation in justice and it spares more innocent lives. Anti death penalty arguments are either false or the pro death penalty arguments are stronger. The majority populations of all countries, likely, support the death penalty for some crimes (1). Why? Justice. THE DEATH PENALTY: SAVING MORE INNOCENT LIVES 1) The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/death-penalty-saving-more-innocent.html 2) Innocents More At Risk Without Death Penalty http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/innocents-more-at-risk-without-death.html 3) OF COURSE THE DEATH PENALTY DETERS: A review of the debate http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/03/of-course-death-penalty-deters.html MORAL FOUNDATIONS: DEATH PENALTY 1) Immanuel Kant: "If an offender has committed murder, he must die. In this case, no possible substitute can satisfy justice. For there is no parallel between death and even the most miserable life, so that there is no equality of crime and retribution unless the perpetrator is judicially put to death.". "A society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody else's life is simply immoral." 2) Pope Pius XII; "When it is a question of the execution of a man condemned to death it is then reserved to the public power to deprive the condemned of the benefit of life, in expiation of his fault, when already, by his fault, he has dispossessed himself of the right to live." 9/14/52. 3) John Murray: "Nothing shows the moral bankruptcy of a people or of a generation more than disregard for the sanctity of human life." "... it is this same atrophy of moral fiber that appears in the plea for the abolition of the death penalty." "It is the sanctity of life that validates the death penalty for the crime of murder. It is the sense of this sanctity that constrains the demand for the infliction of this penalty. The deeper our regard for life the firmer will be our hold upon the penal sanction which the violation of that sanctity merit." (Page 122 of Principles of Conduct). 4) John Locke: "A criminal who, having renounced reason... hath, by the unjust violence and slaughter he hath committed upon one, declared war against all mankind, and therefore may be destroyed as a lion or tyger, one of those wild savage beasts with whom men can have no society nor security." And upon this is grounded the great law of Nature, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Second Treatise of Civil Government. 5) Jean-Jacques Rousseau: "In killing the criminal, we destroy not so much a citizen as an enemy. The trial and judgments are proofs that he has broken the Social Contract, and so is no longer a member of the State." (The Social Contract). 6) Saint (& Pope) Pius V: "The just use of (executions), far from involving the crime of murder, is an act of paramount obedience to this (Fifth) Commandment which prohibits murder." "The Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent" (1566). 3200 additional pro death penalty quotes http(COLON)//prodpquotes.info/ ====== REBUTTAL: Common Anti Death Penalty Claims Saving Costs with The Death Penalty http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/02/death-penalty-cost-saving-money.html RACE & THE DEATH PENALY: A REBUTTAL TO THE RACISM CLAIMS http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/search?q=racism "Killing Equals Killing: The Amoral Confusion of Death Penalty Opponents" http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/02/01/murder-and-execution--very-distinct-moral-differences--new-mexico.aspx "The Death Penalty: Neither Hatred nor Revenge" http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/07/20/the-death-penalty-neither-hatred-nor-revenge.aspx "Moral/ethical Death Penalty Support: Christian and secular Scholars" http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-penalty-support-modern-catholic.html "The Death Penalty: Not a Human Rights Violation" http://homicidesurvivors.com/2006/03/20/the-death-penalty-not-a-human-rights-violation.aspx 1) US Death Penalty Support at 80%; World Support Remains High 95% of murder victim's families support death penalty from Murder Victims' Families for Death Penalty Repeal: More Hurt For Victims: http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/04/victims-families-for-death-penalty.html Much more, upon request. sharpjfa@aol.com |
| Posted on March 6, 2013 |
| poll - respondents not thinking. Who wants to receieve that $13/mo restituion check from the man who raped and murdered their daughter. No one, of course. It is both cruel and repulsive to even consider it. In addition, at least 95% of murder victim survivors, in death penalty cases, support the death penalty. US Death Penalty Support at 80%; World Support Remains High 95% of murder victim's families support death penalty from Murder Victims' Families for Death Penalty Repeal: More Hurt For Victims: http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/04/victims-families-for-death-penalty.html |
| Posted on March 6, 2013 |
| We don't use the death penalty that is why the guy who did a massive killing in a movie theatre is still with us. I don't understand why he doesn't get the death penalty? You emphasis "innocent" people can not be brought back to life such as the victims who went to the movies that day. You are saying MONEY will make the family and friends of those dead people feel better. This story makes no sense and the comment above is even more stupid. That guy knew what he was doing and mental illness means he can't get a job to pay back the victims families. He is just another person that I can not afford to take care of and I don't want to. Death penalty should not only stay but ACTUALLY BE PUT TO USE such as the case that I just mentioned. |
| Posted on March 5, 2013 |
| Good news! An INNOCENT executed person CANNOT be brought back to life, but an innocent person sitting in jail CAN be released. The Legislature should use the moment and repeal the death penalty. |
| Posted on March 5, 2013 |
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