The Debate Regarding The Deterrent Effect Of The Death Penalty

Death penalty is a constant source of controversy and divided opinion depending on who you ask. The punishment of death is given to criminals who commit severe crimes. The severity of crimes that attract the death penalty is debatable due to the severity of the crime. The justice system is based upon punishment for crimes committed by emphasizing the punishment fitting the crime committed. Countries such as China and Singapore, and United States, issue the death penalty to punish murderers or rapist, therefore fueling the already going debate on how to befit the punishment is in such cases. All the death penalty aims to achieve is the punishment to those who break the rules. The death penalty has well documented weaknesses as well as strengths. Not least of is brutality and finality, some of these frailties lead to the calls for its abolishment. The death penalty is inhumane. Wrongly applied as well as completely unjustifiable sometimes killing innocent people irrespective of the crime. Life sentence of imprisonment without parole or pardon achieves all that the death penalty seeks to achieve without costing the society its moral standing and families losing those they love.

The idea of capital punishment deterring crime is difficult to determine; some could rationalize that the death penalty should in theory stop potential murders from committing crimes. However, this rationalization has never been concretely proven. The research into capital punishment’s effect on deterrence is immense; however, the majority of research on this issue has differential findings. Although some research suggests conclusively that capital punishment deters crime, others found that it fails to do this. Understanding deterrence, the death penalty, and the results of

Those who believe that deterrence justifies the execution of certain offenders bear the burden of proving that the death penalty is a deterrent. The overwhelming conclusion from years of deterrence studies is that the death penalty is, at best, no more of a deterrent than a sentence of life in prison. The Ehrlich studies – which took

Another issue related to the subject involves whether or not capital punishment actually deters criminals from committing crimes. Most people think that the death penalties primary function is to deter others in the future from committing similar crimes. There is evidence that at times capital punishment does deter. However, there are those or cite evidence or opinion that the capital punishment does not achieve its desired effect. The majority of this paper will focus on whether capital punishment actually deters crime.

The question of the death penalty has been subject to heated debate on if it serves in deterring criminal activities. Through exploration into findings of several studies, it would be possible to validate whether capital punishment has a deterrent effect on crimes. Various studies are explored with the objective of understanding which side of the debate is stronger. The findings of this study will be important in informing relevant personnel on whether to continue using the penalty or not. The structure of the paper is as follows: Introduction section s, Literature review section, hypothesis statement, definition of terms and references.

The death penalty is one of the most controversed punishments in the United States. According to The Death Penalty Information Center, 88% of criminologist do not believe the death penalty is an effective deterrent. According to deterrence theory, criminals are no different from law abiding people. Individuals settle on their choices taking into account the net expenses and advantages of every option. There is a basis provided for analyzing how capital punishment should influence murder rates, according to the deterrence theory. Throughout the years, a few studies have shown a connection in the middle of executions and reductions in homicide rates.

To determine the deterrent effect of death penalty, an author examined cross-state variation and used three standard groups of control variables. The author concluded that each additional execution deterred thirteen murders (Winter, 2008). While there may some bias in this research, such as the personal perspective before the

After reading, Getting off Death Row: Commuted Sentences and the Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment by H. Naci Mocan & R. Kaj Gittings (2003) conducted a study to examine the deterrent effects of the capital punishment among juvenile offenders. Unquestionably, the effectiveness of capital punishment is based on how our society views it, particularly in the United States, supports the idea that capital punishment is a deterrent from committing a crime. However, H. Naci Mocan & R. Kai Grittings (2003) argues “Because of the ethical, moral, and religious aspects of capital punishment, executing death row inmates generates repercussions, even from outside the United States” (Mocan and Gittings, 2003, p, 455). No doubt, the United States needs

Almost a month ago, I accidently came across the Stanford Prison Experiment documentary, which is available to view on Youtube. The document based on real event in Stanford University. It is an experiment to study psychology of imprisonment on prisoners and guards by dividing selected Stanford students into two groups. As the time passed, the researchers have discovered some drastically changes in both groups within days. At the end, Dr. Philip Zimbardo, one of the researchers concluded that, “these students were physically and psychologically suffered, and nobody have right or privilege to do that to other people.” The document have raised many questions in my head. Does the death penalty

Multiple factors contribute to the alleged declining rate of the violent crime in the USA. Thus it is challenging, if not impossible, to determine the exact role of the capital punishment in a prevention of potential future crimes. From the financial perspective, the deterrence argument for the death penalty seems cost ineffective and inefficient. Given the small number of death row inmates, which is 2905 as of July 2016, based on the most recent data available, the cost of maintaining capital punishment seems to be prohibitory high (Death Row Inmates, 2016). Not every one of those 2905 convicts will be eventually executed, hence the actual number of crimes deterred would be even lower, making such approach costly and less effective than

An argument in opposition of the death penalty is the cost. The word “cost” is affiliated with more than one meaning. There is the numerical value or the estimate the price of a specific piece, this piece being the death penalty. The other is the moral value which pertains to the victims and criminals emotional thought process. Dealing with the cost aspect first, many states confirm that the cost to put a criminal to death via the death penalty, is substantially more than if the criminal were to have life in prison without parole. Anti-death penalty advocates brought economic arguments to the public’s attention which influenced lawmakers in many states to create legislative bills that eliminate capital punishment. By focusing on the costs and inefficiencies of capital punishment, the anti-death penalty movement has given state policymakers a self-interested reason to abolish capital punishment and save their constituents millions of dollars. (Mclaughlin) As early as the 1980s, people on both sides of the death penalty debate started to become aware of the costs involved in capital punishment compared to life imprisonment. (Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review) Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) show 11 states are now considering abolishing executions, with many legislators citing high costs associated with incarcerating and handling often decades-long appeals by death row inmates. (State Crime)

Chan, J., & Oxley, D. (2004, October). The deterrent effect of capital punishment: A Review of Reasearch Evidence. Contemporary issues in Crime and Justice, pp. 1-15.

One may argue that the death penalty is a beneficial way to lower the crime rate and prevent future fraud. However, deterrence does not reduce criminality whatsoever. Those who truly believe that deterrence defends the execution of a human life have not actually proved that the death penalty is truly a deterrent. Most individuals who commit murders do not even expect to get caught at the time due to their anger and passion during the killing. As difficult as it may be, imagine yourself in the moment of committing a crime. Do you immediately say to yourself, “I must weigh my differences, will I get on death row or spend the rest of my life in prison?” No. It is a psychological, passionate, impulsive action of which there is zero time to think about the consequences that may arise

In spite of what researcher have said that death penalty have a deterrence effect, Radelet and Lacock demonstrated that indeed death penalty have on criminal homicide but have not long-term imprisonment. With sixty seven survey from the American Society of Criminology, they figured out that there are “no consistence evidence of crime deterrence through execution”. And the believe that people think that death penalty have an effect is false by compare two poll, the gall pull in 1985 where 62 percent believe that death penalty as a deterrence effect on commitment murder to 32 percent in 2006. American are not in favor anymore of the capital punishment. They find it non-useful.

What is the most frightening and difficult thing for a human? Of course is to lose their life by a bad way. The problem of crime and punishment has always disturbed the human minds. Naturally, every serious crime should be punished and controlled appropriately, so every country has created a unique set of laws which define the type of punishment for many crimes. When the crime is very serious, like murder, the punishment is very strict and rough. At the first years of the 20th century death penalty is the only way of punishment for criminals who committed serious crimes like murdering but when the human rights appears they tried to control this problem and save criminals life. The attitude towards death penalty is completely different and there are supporters and opponents against this type of punishment who present their own pros and cons towards the problem. Despite the fact that death penalty prevents criminals from committing serious crimes and costs the government loss as opposed to life imprisonments without parole. It also should be banned or controlled to avoid continuing the cycle of violence and executing of innocent people.