SWS: Only 33% of Filipinos want death penalty for drug-related crimes

A survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) on Wednesday found that fewer Filipinos want death penalty for those who commit crimes related to illegal drugs.

Conducted from March 22 to 27, 2018 for the Commission on Human Rights, the survey showed that 33 percent or less Filipinos believe that the death penalty should be the punishment for people convicted of seven drug-related crimes.

The seven drug-related crimes mentioned are as follows: importation of illegal drugs; maintenance of drug dens; manufacture of illegal drugs; murder under the influence of drugs; rape under the influence of drugs; sale of illegal drugs; and working in drug dens.

The only exception, according to the survey, is the crime of rape under the influence of drugs, for which a minority 47 percent think the death penalty should apply.

For the remaining six crimes, from 51 percent to 55 percent prefer life imprisonment. Meanwhile, 15 percent to 24 percent prefer imprisonment for 20 years or 40 years.

Among those who disagree with death penalty, 42 percent cite religious reasons, 21 percent think it is possible that a criminal would reform, 14 percent believe there are alternatives to death, 10 percent cite the questionable justice system, 7 percent cite humane reasons, and 3 percent cited the questionable policy.

The March 2018 National Survey on Public Perception on the Death Penalty was conducted nationwide with face-to-face interviews of 2,000 respondents aged 15 and above. It has sampling error margins of ±2.2% at the national level, and ±5% in each study area.  /kga