Support for Capital Punishment Plummets

Toronto, Ontario- Canadians are almost split in their views on capital punishment or the death penalty which was abolished in Canada by 1975. The latest survey results indicate a sea change in public opinion since the last sounding by Ipsos-Reid in 1995.

In 1995, 69 percent supported the death penalty compared to 73 percent in 1987. Today, only 52 percent support capital punishment - down 17 percent since 1995. Alternately, opposition to the death penalty has risen, consistently, from 24 percent in 1987 and 29 percent in 1995 to 46 percent in 2001.

The findings suggest that the call for capital punishment by advocates has less and less appeal to a public which has witnessed exoneration's due to new DNA testing evidence submitted in high profile murder cases, increased publicity surrounding the wrongly convicted, and controversy with respect to the death penalty in the United States.

The survey also shows that those between the ages of 18 and 34 (51%) are most likely to oppose the death penalty as opposed to those who are most likely to be in favour of the death penalty -- aged 35 to 54 (57% support) and those over the age of 55 (54% support). This generation gap on the issue with respect to young adults has emerged during a time when the death penalty in Canada has not been in existence.

Men and women are almost equally split in their views - 54 percent of men and 51 percent of women support the death penalty whereas 45 percent of men and 47 percent of women oppose capital punishment.

The highest levels of support for capital punishment are found in Alberta (64%), British Columbia (59%) and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (57%). The lowest levels of support are in Quebec (42%), and in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, each with only 53 percent support.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Globe and Mail/CTV poll conducted between January 22nd and 25th, 2001. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 1996 Census data.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice President
Public Affairs
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900