06 July 2021 :
Resounding record of suspicious of the death penalty, even in the most "deadly" state.
Poll: Three-Quarters of Dallas Voters Say They Prefer Life Alternatives to Capital Punishment
Three quarters of Dallas, Texas voters say they prefer some version of life imprisonment over the death penalty for people convicted of first-degree murder, a new poll has found.
The poll, which was conducted on June 16–17, 2021 by the independent polling firm, Public Policy Polling (PPP), found broad support for sweeping changes in death-penalty policy in a county that is responsible for the second most executions in the United States since capital punishment resumed in the 1970s. By wide margins, Dallas voters said they believed the county’s death penalty is affected by racial bias and that innocent people have been convicted and sentenced to death. More than 80% said they would support the Dallas District Attorney’s office reviewing the cases of the 19 people currently on death row from the county “to ensure accuracy and fairness.” Nearly two-thirds said they would support the Dallas D.A.’s office “pledging not to seek any new death sentences.”
Given a choice between life without parole, a life sentence with parole eligibility after 40 years, a life sentence with parole eligibility after 20 years, or the death penalty as possible punishments for first-degree murder, 75% of respondents chose some version of a life sentence. A plurality (29%) favored life with the possibility of parole after 40 years, followed by life without parole (26%), and life with the possibility of parole after 20 years (20%). Only 14% of respondents said they preferred the death penalty. Twelve percent were undecided.
The poll is the second in just over a year to show a sea change in views on the death penalty in Texas’s most prolific death-sentencing counties. According to the 2020 Houston Area Survey conducted by the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, a record-low 20% of Houstonians preferred the death penalty for murder. Houston is the county seat of Harris County, which has executed more prisoners than any other county in the U.S.
“These results affirm what we’ve observed for the past decade,” said Kristin Houlé Cuellar, the Executive Director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP), which commissioned the poll. “Texans of all political persuasions are moving away from the death penalty at a remarkable rate.”
