RALEIGH — More than one-third of North Carolina adults now believe life in prison is the most appropriate punishment for first-degree murder as support for the death penalty wanes, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The poll found that 58 percent of adults support the death penalty, but only 48 percent said it’s always the most appropriate punishment for those convicted of first-degree murder, according to researchers at Elon University. Another 10 percent said the sentence depends on the circumstances.

About 38 percent of respondents said they believe life in prison is the most appropriate sentence for murderers.

Those numbers indicated a significant shift from a November 2005 Elon poll that showed nearly two-thirds of adults supported the death penalty, and 61 percent said it was always the most appropriate punishment for first-degree murder. Just 27 percent preferred life in prison.

Poll director Hunter Bacot said North Carolinians are reviewing their positions on the death penalty in light of several exonerations and the botched case against three Duke University lacrosse players, in which a zealous prosecutor charged the men with rape despite flimsy evidence. Attorney General Roy Cooper declared the players innocent earlier this month, a year after they were charged.

“There’s always been the sentiment that the system is fair for the most part,” Bacot said. “But people are now looking back and wondering if people are truly getting a fair shake in the courts.”

Mark Kleinschmidt, executive director of the Durham-based Fair Trial Initiative, said the poll is “another measure of the public’s growing distaste for the death penalty.”

“I find it remarkable,” Kleinschmidt said. “Those are some of the lowest numbers I’ve seen in the long time. I was actually surprised that the numbers dropped that much.”

But Lee Peacock, whose grandmother was killed in Trinity in 1991, said victims’ families need to start rallying together to tell their stories.

“Over the last several years, it’s the victims and the families of the victims who are not getting heard,” Peacock said. “We need to speak out more about our daily suffering.”

In 1993, James Williams was convicted of murder in the death of Peacock’s grandmother, Elvie Rhodes. He’s still on death row.

The poll, which surveyed 476 adults from households in North Carolina last week, has a margin of error of 4.6 percent. It comes as North Carolina’s top officials try to figure out how to break a legal stalemate that has placed an effective moratorium on the death penalty.

The North Carolina Medical Board declared in January that any doctor who participates in an execution violates medical ethics and could face sanction. The decision triggered a series of legal actions, and a state judge has placed five executions on hold. No other executions have been scheduled.

Elon pollsters also questioned respondents about their support for corporal punishment in schools, which is also getting a new review in the General Assembly. A House committee approved a ban earlier this month.

But nearly 55 percent of adults said in the poll they support corporal punishment in schools, and nearly one quarter of respondents said they strongly support the form of physical punishment.

“It reflects truly the cultural demeanor of North Carolina,” Bacot said. “It’s just part of the fabric of this conservative state.”