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Poll: Would Americans Execute Bin Laden?
South Korea, which has the death penalty, was the native country of Seung-Hui Cho, whose Virginia Tech shooting rampage claimed 32 lives, suggesting Seoul might not have objected had Cho _ a permanent U.S. resident _ not taken his own life and instead been sentenced to death.
In several countries, the public so opposes capital punishment that the matter seldom becomes a political issue. Reflecting Italian sentiment, since 1999 when a death sentence is commuted anywhere or a nation abolishes capital punishment, the city of Rome bathes the Colosseum in golden light at nighttime.
  In this April 1998 file photo, Osama bin Laden is seen in Afghanistan. The bulk of Americans and a slim majority in Mexico want bin Laden executed if caught, but most people in seven other countries would rather he spend life or many years in prison, an AP-Ipsos poll says.(AP Photo) (Associated Press) 
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"He should serve life in prison without parole, away from any contact that could allow him to communicate and harm again," Mauro Cosmai, 59, a Rome university psychology professor, said of bin Laden.
In the U.S., the preference for execution over prison for murderers in general was 52 percent to 46 percent. Those favoring prison slightly outnumbered death penalty supporters in Mexico, while in the remaining seven countries prison was the overwhelming preference.
"I don't believe in a society when 'an eye for an eye' system is practiced," said Katrin Beissert, a 16-year-old high school student from Karlsruhe, Germany.
Support for executions measured higher in each country when the question was phrased differently.
Asked whether they favor or oppose the death penalty for murderers, without other choices for punishment, Americans backed it by 69 percent to 29 percent. That was similar to results in South Korea and Mexico. Capital punishment was supported by a slim majority in Britain but opposed by most in Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Despite broad support for executions, nearly six in 10 in the U.S. said abolishing the death penalty would probably not change the number of murders. Analysts say support for execution goes beyond a belief in deterrence to peoples' feelings about justice, revenge and keeping criminals off the streets.
The poll also found that 69 percent in the U.S. prefer lethal injections for executions, with the rest scattered among hanging, firing squads, electrocution and gas chambers.
The AP-Ipsos poll was conducted in February in each country except Canada, where it was compiled from April 3-5. There were about 1,000 telephone interviews in each country, except for 1,200 conducted in person in Mexico. The polls had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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AP Manager of News Surveys Trevor Tompson, AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and AP Writer Ann Sanner contributed to this story from Washington, while AP writers Kirsten Grieshaber and Ariel David contributed from Berlin and Rome, respectively.
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