BRAZIL SURVEY: SUPPORT FOR DEATH PENALTY DROPS

support for the death penalty in Brazil has dropped from a year ago, as a wave of violent crime subsided, according to a poll published. The Datafolha polling institute found 47 percent of Brazilians support instituting the death penalty, down from 55 percent a year ago when support for capital punishment reached a 14-year high. The death penalty has not existed in Brazil since 1855. The survey, published by the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, interviewed more than 4,000 people across Brazil last month. The margin of error was 2 percentage points. It showed Brazilians almost evenly divided over the issue, with 46 percent opposition to the death penalty and 7 percent undecided or indifferent.