Support falls for moratorium on death penalty

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Support for Gov. George Ryan's moratorium on capital punishment has fallen by nearly half in two years, a poll finds.

Only 46 percent of respondents support the halt to executions, the Copley News Service poll found, while 42 percent oppose it and 13 percent are undecided.

That's a sharp decline from a similar poll conducted in February 2000, just after Ryan stopped capital punishment while a commission studied the system's flaws. At the time, 81 percent approved of the moratorium and 13 percent opposed it.

The telephone survey of 625 Illinoisans was released Thursday and has an error margin of 4 percentage points.

Ryan put a temporary hold on executions after several men condemned to die were found innocent or had faulty trials. In all, 13 people have been released from death row since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977, while 12 have been executed.

A commission Ryan put together to study the system's flaws will make recommendations for change this spring.

Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton said the governor is not worried about what people think.