Death penalty supported by most Canadians for murder: poll

a new request Research’s found that a majority of Canadians support the reinstatement of the death penalty for murder.

According to the poll, 54 per cent of Canadians support using the death penalty for murder convictions, up three points from a similar survey conducted by the group in February 2022.

Research Co. data shows Albertans are more likely to favor the death penalty by the highest percentage, 62 per cent.

Support for the death penalty is also high in Saskatchewan and Manitoba at 60 percent, while 58 percent of Ontario and BC residents feel the same way. More than half (55 per cent) of Atlantic Canadians and 43 per cent of Quebecers said they welcomed the return of the death penalty.

“Three in five Canadians aged 55 and over (59 per cent, up four points) would welcome the return of the death penalty,” Research Co. president Mario Canseco said in a press release. “The numbers are slightly lower among 35- to 54-year-olds (54 percent, up three points) and among 18- to 34-year-olds (50 percent, up three points).

Conservative voters are most likely to welcome punishment at 71 percent (down eight points), while support is lower (49 percent, down three points) among those who voted NDP in 2021 and the Liberals (48 percent). cent, down one point).

When it comes to the type of punishment, 53 percent (up one point) said they would prefer murderers to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, while 37 percent preferred the death penalty.

Fewer Canadians (25 per cent) said the death penalty was “never” appropriate, and fewer than that (9 per cent, down two points) said it was “always” appropriate.

However, a majority of Canadians (58 per cent) believe the death penalty is “sometimes” appropriate, up four points from last year.

According to the data, 66 percent of Canadians who oppose the return of the death penalty are concerned about the possibility of a person being wrongly convicted and sentenced to death.

The report said 42 percent believed it was wrong for a convicted murderer to take his own life, while 41 percent were in favor of remaining in prison as the judge ordered.

Additionally, most supporters of the death penalty (57 percent) believe it will serve as a deterrent to potential murders, while 55 percent say it fits the crime because a convicted murderer took a life.

Nearly half of respondents (51 percent) believe the death penalty would save taxpayers money compared to the costs of keeping a person behind bars.

Similarly, 46 percent of those in favor of the death penalty believe it would provide closure for the families of homicide victims, while 30 percent believe murders cannot be remedied.

The death penalty was abolished in Canada in 1976, but even before that, federal governments regularly commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment. The last executions in Canada took place in 1962.

METHODOLOGY

The results are based on an online survey conducted between March 10 and March 12, 2023, among 1,000 Canadian adults. Data are statistically weighted according to Canadian Census figures for age, sex, and region. Results are considered accurate to within +/- 3.1 percentage points 20 to 19 times.

Reporting for this story was paid for through the Meta-funded Afghanistan Reporters in Residence program.