American Civil Liberties Union : Drop in Minorities' Support for Death Penalty

Death Penalty:
The death penalty is the ultimate denial of civil liberties. In the past 35 years, 130 inmates were found to be innocent and released from death row. The ACLU Capital Punishment Project is fighting for the end of the death penalty by supporting moratorium and repeal movements through public education and advocacy. We are engaged in systemic reform of the death penalty process, and case-specific litigation highlighting some of its fundamental flaws.

Drop in Minorities' Support for Death Penalty (7/11/2000)

A recent Zogby International poll shows that African-American and Hispanic support for the death penalty in particularly heinous crimes has dropped in the past few months.

In February, a Zogby International Poll showed that, among Hispanics, 59.6% strongly supported the death penalty and 13.3% supported it somewhat vs. just 6.4% who were somewhat opposed and 15.8% who were strongly opposed.

Among African-Americans results were similar: 47% gave strong support, 16.9% supported it somewhat, 9.9% were somewhat opposed and 21.7% were strongly opposed to the punishment.

However, in a June Zogby survey completed during the execution of Gary Graham in Texas, the degree of support declined significantly. Though, overall, 70.5% still backed the death penalty, support dropped from 72.9% to 66.4% among Hispanics and from 63.9% to 47.3% among African Americans, with 43.3% of African Americans voicing opposition.

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