JORDAN: MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS OF JORDANIANS SUPPORT CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

An opinion poll was released showing that more than two-thirds of Jordanians support capital punishment.
The survey, carried out between 23 November and 5 December by the Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Jordan, showed that 81 per cent of Jordanians support the death penalty and 17 per cent said they oppose it.
The survey polled 1,200 Jordanians over 18 and a smaller group of 700 “opinion leaders” such as political figures, academics and journalists.
According to the survey, 80 per cent of opinion leaders also said they support capital punishment, while 18 per cent were against it.
For those who oppose the penalty, 28 per cent of the national sample and 18 per cent of the opinion leaders said they are against it because they consider execution “inhumane, while life and death are in the hands of God”. Meanwhile, 22 per cent of the national sample who opposed it and 21 per cent of the opinion leaders said their rejection of the death penalty is over fears that some of those convicted and executed may in fact be not guilty.
The opinion poll also gauged opinions on alternative penalties and the option of replacing execution with life imprisonment. Results showed that the vast majority is against this – 74 per cent of the national sample and 79 per cent of the opinion leaders – said they are against alternative punishment, including life imprisonment.