Support for the death penalty, which had reached 80 % a

few years ago, appears to be softening, though a majority of

Americans still favor executions to punish convicted murderers,

according to recent polls.

While the candidates are doing what others have done before them,

namely striving to appear tough on the issue without seeming bloodthirsty,

the public is more hard line: They favor capital punishment even when

reminded that some people are executed for crimes they did not commit.

The issue, while a perennial in campaigns, has been put under

the klieg lights in this presidential campaign when national

political reporters began writing about George W. Bush's record

as governor. He has signed off on more executions than any of

his fellow governors, 131 in 5 years. At the same time,

Illinois's Republican governor, George Ryan, halted executions

in his state after 13 men on death row were exonerated by new

evidence.

Mr. Bush in February said "that every person put to death in

Texas under my watch has been guilty of the crime charged, and

has had full access to the courts." He recently granted a stay to

one condemned man to allow for DNA testing, which the inmate,

Rick Nolen McGinn, said will reveal his innocence.

The public is cynical about Mr. Bush's motives. In a Newsweek

poll taken in early June, 59 % of Americans said Mr. Bush

was motivated by political considerations while 27 % said

he was motivated by the facts in the case. Even his supporters

were evenly divided on the matter: 41 % said his motives

were purely political while 42 % said he was reacting to

the facts in the case.

Al Gore, who has also been in favor of the death penalty,

recently told The New York Times that newly released studies

showing high error rates in death penalty cases suggests the

country ought to take another look. But he was careful not to

criticize Mr. Bush nor make any bold statements of his own.

So what is going on here? The candidates are being forced to

walk a fine line while public opinion begins what may be a shift.

While the Gallup Organization reported in 1994 that 80 %

of all Americans favored the death penalty, that number has

been dropping and was 62 % in an NBC News poll in May.

When the death penalty is put against life imprisonment, support

for the death penalty falls to 52 %, and life imprisonment is

37 %, as was the case in a Gallup poll in February.

For now, Americans say their position on the death penalty is a

simple question of justice. They see the death penalty as a way

for the state to take a life for one that has been taken. It is

irrelevant to them whether the death penalty acts a deterrent to

crime or whether some people are convicted unfairly.

According to the Gallup poll conducted in February, Americans

generally believe that poor people and blacks are more likely to

be given the death penalty than are people of average income

and whites convicted of similar crimes.

One of the things shaking up what has long been the collective

thinking is the widespread use of DNA. The Newsweek poll

found that 95 % of Americans think DNA testing should be

routinely used in all cases where it might determine a person's

guilt or innocence. In addition, 88 % said the federal

government should step in and require states to permit such

testing.

There is an odd finding in the polls on this subject. Fox News

asked people whether they themselves would rather serve a life

sentence in prison or be put to death. 34 % chose prison, 48 %

chose death.

(source: The New York Times)