PUBLIC OPINION: Colorado Voters Would Rather Spend Money on Cold Cases than on Death Penalty

A recent Colorado poll conducted by RBI Strategies and Research found that 63% of citizens believe that money spent on the death penalty would be better used to close unsolved murder cases. Citizens likely to vote in the next election were told that the death penalty costs the state an extra $3 million per year, and then asked "would you favor or oppose replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment with no possibility of parole, and using the money saved to track down and prosecute the killers in unsolved murder cases?” Forty-three percent were strongly in favor of such a change in spending and another 20% somewhat in favor. Only 27% opposed such a redirection of funds. Interestingly, voters were generally against cutting money from the law enforcement budget to pursue cold cases, but were in favor of cutting the money from death penalty prosecutions. The poll found that Coloradans were evenly split on the proper punishment for murder, with 45% supporting life without parole and the same percentage supporting the death penalty.

Colorado has executed one person in the past 40 years and has one inmate on death row.
(RBI Strategies & Research report, February 2008). Posted April 8, 2008. See the poll results here. See Public Opinion.