Should convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo

[CathyFL]

Should convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo live?


No - He should be sentenced to death 74%
Yes - He should be sentenced to life in prison 20%
I don't know 5%
Total Votes: 7,392

This is a poll on AOl i found

[techietype]

Here is a story about another, more scientific poll:

Poll: More Back Life Sentence Than Death for Convicted Sniper Malvo


Most Americans prefer to spare the life of convicted Washington, D.C.,
sniper Lee Malvo, a view reflecting the public's broader disinclination to
execute juvenile murderers.

Given a choice, 52 % say they'd prefer a sentence of life in prison with
no chance of parole for Malvo, while 37 % prefer the death penalty.
(Support for execution is higher, 56 %, when no other option is offered).

The results reflect broader concerns about executing juveniles. With no
alternative offered, a quarter of Americans support the death penalty for
juvenile killers in general, a quarter say it depends on the circumstances
and 1/2 oppose it. But given an alternative, 62 % prefer mandatory life;
just 21 % favor capital punishment.

Support for executing rather than imprisoning Malvo - 37 %, vs. 21 %
support for the general policy - likely reflects the nature and notoriety
of his crime.

Malvo was convicted Thursday of killing an FBI analyst in a Virginia
parking lot, one of 10 deaths in a shooting spree that terrorized the
capital area last fall (this poll was conducted before the verdict.) He
was 17 years old at the time of the crime.

Malvo's surrogate father, John Muhammad, was convicted of another of the
slayings, and sentenced to death, last month.

Preferred Punishment for Juvenile Killers

Americans are more likely to back the death penalty for adults convicted
of murder, especially when no alternative is mentioned. But they divide
when given a choice of punishments. In an ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll
early this year, 64 % favored the death penalty in principle, but when
given a choice it was a much narrower split: Forty-nine percent preferred
executing murderers, while 45 % favored life without parole.

With adult killers, too, support for capital punishment can be higher in
specific cases. In 2001, 75 % favored executing Oklahoma City bomber
Timothy McVeigh.

Groups

There's a gender gap, with women less likely than men to support the death
penalty. With no other option offered, 55 % of women oppose the death
penalty in juvenile cases, compared with 42 % of men. Given an
alternative, women are 10 points more likely than men to prefer mandatory
life, 67 % to 57 %.

Specifically in Malvo's case, with no alternative, 46 % of women support
the death penalty, compared with 67 % of men. Given an option, 57 % of
women prefer mandatory life, compared with 47 % of men.

Political partisanship is also a factor. When the death penalty is
mentioned alone, 68 percent of Republicans say they would support it for
Malvo, compared with 55 % of independents and 48 % of Democrats. When
given a choice of sentences, 61 % of Democrats and 58 % of independents
say they'd prefer mandatory life; just 39 % of Republicans agree.

Methodology

This ABCNEWS poll was conducted by telephone Dec. 10-14, among a random
national sample of 1,031 adults. Each question was asked of a random half
of the total sample. The results have a 4.5-point error margin. Sampling,
data collection and tabulation was conducted by TNS Intersearch of
Horsham, Pa. Previous ABCNEWS polls can be found in our Poll Vault."
(source: ABC News, Dec. 19)

[lovinbilly4ever]

i think he should be given LWOP....IMO---i think that if they execute him...all it will do is kill him..i think he needs to REALIZE that this is NOT OK TO DO! like i know thats so simple...but, many people are dead because of what these 2 did.....but thats just me.

[CathyFL]

I totally agree with you billy...LWP is what he desreves after all its got what 60 yrs to rot and thing about what hes done to innocent people>

[aprilcat]

i never agree with the death penalty ~ ever. ac

[KRIS_NC]

HE SHOULD BE GIVEN LWOP. THE DEATH PENALTY IS NEVER THE ANSWER.

[Rostonhall]

Any death penalty is wrong and LWOP is a 'living death', and that's from someone who spent 10 years on the Row and is now faced with LWOP.

Rose

[Flowerchild]

I'm with Aprilcat — against the DP under any & all circumstances & consider it simply murder by the state.

Adrienne

[MiamiChica22]

I have a feeling they will give him the Death Penalty but I'd rather he be sentenced to LWOP.

[susan the finn]

I agree with you all, LWOP is appropriate punishment. His crimes were heinous but noone should be put to death. it doesn't bring the victims back.

[techietype]

The good news is that Lee Malvo escaped the death penalty for murdering Linda Franklin. The bad news is that prosecutors will no doubt attempt to get Malvo killed for another one of the murders.

[Charlie's Mom]

I don't agree with the death penalty in any circumstance. LWOP just has to be enough.The idea of sentencing and trying children as adults, can't be right either.

Maybe thats because I'm in FL.

[FriscoLady]

Yes, I am pretty sure that the Butcher of Gitmo (Atty Gen.) will take this case on a round robin till he gets the death sentence on Malvo.

Charlie's Mom - in Virginia that can try 14 year olds and up as adults. This d**mned state tried my 16 year niece as an adult and life plus 50 years on her. If they thought they could have gotten the dp on her I am sure they would have tried.

Patti

[techietype]

Although I in no way support the death penalty, it isn't too difficult to understand why they would seek it for someone like Mohammad. Afterall, if you MUST have a death penalty, who are you going to use it on if not a mass murderer?

Malvo, on the other hand, was and still is a very confused young man who was under the direct control of a very evil person. Even people who generally support the death penalty seem to be pretty squeamish about killing him. I hope that one day he understands how horrible his crimes were. Right now, I very sincerely doubt that he does.

Fortunately, none of the murders seems to be under the jursidiction of the witch-finder general, John Ashcroft. They probably had their best shot at getting Malvo killed with the Franklin case in Virginia. Perhaps the failure to get Malvo killed in state-killing loving Virginia will disuade other prosecutors in other states.

We can only hope.