12 May 2010 :

Maryland voters remain divided on death penalty. The death penalty has sparked intense debate in Maryland in recent years -- but attitudes among residents haven't changed much. 60 % of Marylanders favor use of the death penalty for people convicted of murder, while 32 % are opposed, according to a new Washington Post poll. Those figures don't tell the entire story: Given a choice, more say they prefer the punishment of life in prison with no chance of parole than the death penalty -- by 49 % to 40 %. Neither result has changed much since The Post asked the same questions 3 years ago. In 2007, 60 % supported the death penalty, while 35 % opposed. And 52 % said they preferred life without parole for those convicted of murder, while 43 % said they preferred the death penalty. Since then, efforts by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to repeal the death penalty have repeatedly fallen short in the General Assembly. Those bills all sought to replace capital punishment with life without parole. Maryland has had a de facto moratorium on capital punishment since December 19, 2006 (see), when the state's highest court ruled that procedures for lethal injections had not been properly adopted. To date, O'Malley has not implemented new regulations that would allow executions to resume. He claims his administration is moving diligently in that direction, but advocates on both sides of the issue say they strongly doubt any of Maryland's 5 condemned inmates will be executed before the November election. The state's last execution took place in 2005, when Ehrlich was governor. The Post poll found that 75 % of Republicans and 67 % of independents favor the death penalty. Democrats are more evenly divided, with 48 % in favor of its use and 44 % opposed. Given the choice between the 2 penalties, Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats to prefer the death penalty, while independents are evenly split, with just as many favoring life without parole. The poll also underscored racial and gender divisions over the issue. Whites are far more likely than blacks to support the death penalty (70 % to 43 %), and more men than women support capital punishment (66 % to 54 %).