Published: December 29, 2006 02:46 pm      

Death penalty — 01/02/07

Most Kentuckians think other options are apt punishment

Kentucky has executed only two men since the death penalty was reimposed in 1976, and a new poll by the University of Kentucky’s Survey Research Center indicates that’s just the way a majority of Kentuckians think the death penalty should be imposed: Rarely, if ever. It also indicates that opinions about the death penalty are changing in Kentucky.

The survey did not specifically ask the 836 respondents whether they supported or opposed the death penalty. Instead, it queried Kentuckians on what they thought was the “most appropriate” punishment for the crime of intentionally taking the life of another person.

While the survey found that Kentuckians are divided concerning the proper punishment for those convicted of aggravated murder, more than two-thirds of the respondents said they preferred long prison terms over the death penalty.

Approximately 36 percent of respondents said that a life sentence without possibility of parole is the most appropriate punishment, while another 31 percent favored other sentences that Kentucky juries can impose, including prison terms ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment with parole. That adds up to 67 percent of the respondents supporting punishment other than the death penalty.

More than three out of 10 respondents — 31 percent — did say they thought execution was the most appropriate punishment for anyone who intentionally takes the life of another. Another two percent did not pick any of the available penalties.

At first glance, the latest survey seems to represent a significant change in public opinion to polls by The Courier-Journal and the University of Louisville in the late 1990s that found that about two-thirds of state residents favored the death penalty. But the U of L survey found that when offered the option, more people preferred sentencing offenders to a long prison term.

The UK poll was commissioned by the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, which, as its name indicates, advocates abolishment of the death penalty. It plans to use the results in lobbying the Kentucky General Assembly.

However, we think the Rev. Patrick Delahanty, who heads the coalition, has the right take on the latest poll results: “You can’t conclude that people are absolutely saying no to the death penalty, but you can conclude that there’s something about their answer that suggests they were much more comfortable and satisfied with some penalty other than death.”

Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, said there is no move afoot in the Kentucky General Assembly to abolish the death penalty. Even if it’s not the preferred sentence, he said it’s important to keep the death penalty available to juries.

While some states like Texas and Florida have executed dozens of people since the 1976 U.S. Supreme Court decision re-establishing the death penalty, that certainly has not been the case in Kentucky. Given the option of imposing the death penalty, Kentucky juries have more often than not imposed lesser sentences. And Kentucky certainly has been in no rush to execute those relatively few prisoners who are on death row.

From our vantage point, we think most Kentuckians want to keep the death penalty as an option but they think it should be imposed only rarely and for the most heinous of crimes. That certainly is the way the current law is being enforced in Kentucky. It’s unlikely to change in 2007.