Majority of Americans support the death penalty for murderers

Though many said they supported capital punishment, an almost equal amount of people conceded they don't think it deters crime. The execution chamber in a Florida prison. (Florida Department of Corrections/Wikimedia Commons via Courthouse News) (CN) — An eye for an eye, say the two-thirds of Americans who support punishing murderers with death, according to research published by Pew on Thursday. A little less than a third of Americans, 32%, oppose capital punishment entirely, standing in line with Ghandi’s spin on the age-old aphorism, “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” “As the Trump administration and some states seek to expand the application of the death penalty, about two-thirds of Americans (66%) now favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, while nearly a third (32%) oppose it,” researchers wrote in the report. Under President Joe Biden, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland placed a moratorium of federal pursuit of the death penalty on July 1, 2021. Weeks into Donald Trump’s second term, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi lifted the moratorium on February 5, 2025, resuming pursuit of death for federal murder convictions. Although zero federal executions have been carried out since 2021, states executed 47 men last year, nearly double the rate of people put to death in 2024, according to researchers at the Death Penalty Information Center. To gauge American’s support of the death penalty, Pew researchers polled 3,428 people online and 126 people over the phone in July. Researchers note that online polls tend to receive higher support of the death penalty than surveys conducted over the phone. While 66% of people polled told Pew they supported the death penalty, 60% also doubted whether the policy deters others from committing serious crimes and 73% of people acknowledge the risk of innocent people being put to death. Nearly four-in-ten people think capital punishment discourages criminality and 25% think there are enough safeguards in place to protect innocent people from being wrongly condemned to death. Between 2020 and 2021, support for capital punishment fell from 65% to 60%, before creeping back up to today’s rate. More Americans think the death penalty is morally justified for people who committed murder, 68%, compared to 28% who are morally opposed to the practice. More Republicans, 84%, support the death penalty than Democrats, who are divided 51% in favor to 48% against. Half of Republicans believe the death penalty deters crime, compared to a quarter of Democrats, and only half of Democrats say the policy is morally justifiable compared to 85% of Republicans. Only 14% of Democrats think there are enough safety measures to protect against wrongful convictions compared to 38% of Republicans. The largest political divide over the death penalty, according to Pew, hinges on race. Seventy-seven percent of Republicans say the system treats people the same, with Black and white people equally likely to face death, compared to 23% of Democrats who agree. Researchers at the Death Penalty Information Center report 41% of death row inmates are white and 40% Black. Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.