More than three-quarters of Poles questioned in a poll...

More than three-quarters of Poles questioned in a poll by the CBOS opinion center thought the death penalty should be reintroduced for the most serious crimes. The survey also indicated that personal safety continued to be a major concern for Polish society, with one in four respondents afraid that a member of their family would be a victim of crime, while 50 percent described the safety of their relatives as "moderate". Nevertheless, the number of people who felt threatened by crime had not changed compared to 2003. In contrast, the number of Poles supporting the restoration of the death penalty had gone up to 77 percent, a 3 percent increase on the previous year. Interestingly, almost half of the respondents (48 percent) who had strong religious beliefs declared their support for capital punishment, with 39 percent against. Among non-believers, 83 percent were in favour of restoring the death penalty. The poll was conducted at the beginning of March on a group of 1,022 Poles.