elettaria

I've read somewhere (it's quoted in one of the essays in Christa Wolf's Cassandra, but I can never find quotations in that book) that approval ratings for capital punishment are relatively high when it's legal, but drop enormously after a few decades when a country ceases to practise it. I'm curious to see how far that holds out, and also with regard to gun ownership.

So here's a poll. If you've moved countries in your life, select the one which you think of as home.

[Poll #1402429]

I'm perfectly happy for people to discuss this, but please do so with sensitivity.

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Blast, I had a feeling it was going to turn out to be complicated. I wasn't so much interested in the minute details as the general picture, though: even if the death penalty for high treason still existed, in effect we have not had capital punishment in the UK since 1964. It's been 45 years, we're completely used to not having it, we find it alien. In contrast, I'm always jolted when I encounter people from countries where it is still practised, who take it for granted that people will approve of capital punishment and think it's only the crazies who disapprove.

Ach, there probably wasn't much point doing a poll, it's a small group and politically probably not representative of the general population. I was just curious.