Most Americans still favor the death penalty, but a quarter of young Americans would refuse to even consider the death penalty if they were on a jury
Delaware may become the latest state to abolish the death penalty as the state House votes on whether or not to pass a bill abolish death row in the state. Florida's death penalty law was also recently ruled unconstitutional because it gave too much power to judges, not juries, to determine whether someone should be executed. Currently 19 states do not have the death penalty and the number of executions taking place each year has dropped from a peak of 98 in 1999 to 28 last year.
YouGov's latest research shows that most Americans still favor the death penalty for people who have been convicted of murder. Support is highest among Republicans (71%) and over-65s (67%). Under-30s are the only group where there is not majority support for the death penalty, with 45% people aged 18 to 29 saying that they favor the death penalty and 35% saying that they are opposed.
Despite the fact that only 58% of Americans actively support the death penalty 73% say that, if they were on the jury for a murder trial, they would consider all sentencing options, including the death penalty. 18% of Americans say that, regardless of their jury duty, they would never consider the death penalty. Younger Americans are the most likely to say that they could never consider condemning someone to death, with a quarter of under-30s (24%) stating that they'd never consider the death penalty.
