Big support for death penalty in BC
Posted February 8, 2012 1:04 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Could we see a return of the death penalty? New survey numbers show people in this province support its use.
BC is tied with Alberta at 72 per cent in favour of the death penalty, says Mario Canseco with Angus Reid. He says there are two reasons why there’s support for the death penalty in this province.
“It really has to do with the base that the Conservative party has over here in Western Canada. But also, there’s a lot of animosity towards specific crimes that have been committed lately. We go back to the Robert Pickton case and we’re now looking forward to 22 or 23 years from now, having that parole hearing,” he tells us.
Respondents who want to see the death penalty return believe it would serve as a deterrent for potential murderers and would save taxpayers’ money. Most also feel that the capital punishment fits the crime for murder.
Most opponents of the death penalty are concerned over the possibility of wrongful convictions leading to executions. Many also believe that even if someone has taken a life, it’s wrong to take the murderer’s own life as punishment.
Despite the support, Canseco doesn’t think it will become law.
“The last time somebody tried to do something like this was Brian Mulroney back in 1987. He had a majority in the House of Commons that was certainly larger than the one Stephen Harper has right now. When they let it be a free vote, he actually lost it,” he explains.
On a national level, 61 per cent of Canadians asked in an online survey support the death penalty for murder in Canada, which was abolished in 1976. When asked to choose between two possible courses of action to deal with convicted murderers in Canada (death penalty or life in jail with no possibility of parole), half of respondents prefer life imprisonment.
