March, 26 2015, 11:45am EDT
UK Support for Death Penalty Drops Below 50 Percent
Public support for the death penalty in Britain has dropped to less than half the UK population for the first time, according to a new survey.
The latest British Social Attitudes survey, released today, revealed that a majority of people in the UK - 52 per cent - now oppose the death penalty. Three decades ago, the same survey found that 75 per cent of the population supported capital punishment; a figure that has now fallen to 48 per cent.
LONDON
Public support for the death penalty in Britain has dropped to less than half the UK population for the first time, according to a new survey.
The latest British Social Attitudes survey, released today, revealed that a majority of people in the UK - 52 per cent - now oppose the death penalty. Three decades ago, the same survey found that 75 per cent of the population supported capital punishment; a figure that has now fallen to 48 per cent.
Commenting, Clare Algar, Executive Director of Reprieve, which supports people facing the death penalty, said: "This welcome finding finally debunks the myth that, given half the chance, the British people would vote to bring back hanging. In fact the trend is clear - Brits in increasing numbers agree that the death penalty has no place in a civilised society. Capital punishment has little to do with justice or crime deterrence, and all countries - including the UK - should be working towards global abolition."
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
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Civil liberties defenders on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advancement of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which critics say lawmakers are trying to ram through without protection against warrantless surveillance and with a provision that would effectively make every American a spy whether they like it or not.
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