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The Politics of the Death Penalty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2009

Marie Gottschalk
Marie Gottschalk
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
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Extract

The death penalty is declining in the United States. The number of people executed each year has fallen by about half since the late 1990s. Opinion polls show support for capital punishment is waning. It now stands at about two-thirds, down from a high point of 86% in 1995, according to Gallup polls (p. 173).

Type
Review Symposium: The Politics of the Death Penalty
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , December 2009 , pp. 925 - 928
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2009

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