Official sentiment to reinstate the death penalty is a relative rarity. Discourses of lethal punishment are primarily to be found in social debate and empirically recorded in the virtual space of the World Wide Web, ranging from newspaper discussion boards, to personal blogs, to popular social networking Web sites. However, with irregularity, social debate has been lent the sentiments of official actors who have reached out through populism and located discussion of potential death penalty reinstatement in an official domain. While media discourses can affect public perceptions of crime policy, one must question the longevity of that effect and consider the autonomy of public opinion. While popular media can affect public perceptions of crime policy and account for contemporary sentiments of increased punitiveness, other elements too need to be considered if change is to be evoked. Note and references