Survation Crime and Capital Punishment survey exclusively for The Mail On Sunday

As MPs prepare for a likely Commons debate on capital punishment later this year -the first since 1998 – where are the British Public on the issue?

A summary of all the questions and weighted answers and full data tables can be downloaded here;

Key Highlights

• 53% of British public are in favour of re-introducing the death penalty
• The number in favour is higher among men, 63% of men versus 44% of women (and a greater proportion of women are undecided)
• There is variation across age groups (more older people in favour)
• Respondents from the south least likely to be in favour of reintroduction  (NI discounted)
• Lower socio-economic category more likely to agree with a reintroduction
• Lib Dem (41.3%) and Labour (45.3%) supporters are considerably less likely to agree with re-introduction of the Death penalty, Conservative voters (67.5%) and UKIP voters (72.4%)  were much more in favour of the Death penalty.
• Murder, terrorism and war crimes are the main offences deemed deserving of the death penalty
• Majority believe murders and offences would go down (53% male and 44% women) 32% believe things would stay the same
• Lower socio-economic groups and conservative supporters more likely to state offences would be reduced
• Lethal injection is the method of choice for the British public (66.4%)
• The majority of respondents believe the current criminal justice system is too lenient on crime (82.5%)

Methodology

The Survation Crime and Punishment survey is a nationally representative online survey of adults aged over 18 years old living in the UK online survey of adults aged over 18 years old living in the UK. This online survey was conducted using respondents from the Toluna online consumer panel. Responses were gathered on August 4th 2011, and a total of 1000 responses were achieved. Data were weighted by Survation to ensure the final results were representative of the UK using census information in terms of age, gender, socio-economic status and past voting behaviour. Data were analysed and weighted by Survation using SPSS.

For further information please contact;

Damian Lyons Lowe
CEO
Survation Ltd
020 7490 4094
damian.lyonslowe@survation.com

Survation are a member of The British Polling Council and abide by its rules
http://www.britishpollingcouncil.org

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