"In N.C., death penalty gets rarer."
That headline in the morning paper might be surprising given that public support of the death penalty remains high. A Gallop Poll conducted as recently as October showed 64 percent of Americans in favor of executing people convicted of murder. But that was down from 69 percent a year earlier and other polls show the percentage in favor of putting murderers to death falls far below 50 percent when the alternative of life without parole is presented.
The overall support for death penalty has been clashing in recent years with substantial discomfort with the way it has been carried out and a growing number of obstacles to actually putting people to death. Staff Writer Dan Kane, who examined decisions by prosecutors and trial results from around the state, explains why just one person has been sentenced to death in North Carolina this year.
No one has been executed here since August 2006.
Linda Williams
Linda Williams is a native of Fayetteville and graduate of UNC-CH. Her journalistic experience includes working at The Oregonian, The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. She can be reached at 
Comments
The Death Penalty
Fri, 07/23/2010 - 23:01 — SoccerDog55Do these people that vote against the Death Penalty for Murderers. Do they know that 1) they are saying that the Murderer should get more rights them their victim! 2) That they do not mind paying to room & board this Murderer for as long as they are kept in prison!
There has to be fear put into the person thinking of killing someone. When a Murderer is killing someone they do not take in account the victims rights. So why does the justice system give a murderer so many rights.