Studies say death penalty deters crime

[Azure]

Anti-death penalty forces have gained momentum in the past few years, with a moratorium in Illinois, court disputes over lethal injection in more than a half-dozen states and progress toward outright abolishment in New Jersey.

<snip>

What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument — whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer.

<snip>

"Science does really draw a conclusion. It did. There is no question about it," said Naci Mocan, an economics professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. "The conclusion is there is a deterrent effect."

A 2003 study he co-authored, and a 2006 study that re-examined the data, found that each execution results in five fewer homicides, and commuting a death sentence means five more homicides. "The results are robust, they don't really go away," he said. "I oppose the death penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) — what am I going to do, hide them?"

<snip>

Among the conclusions:

• Each execution deters an average of 18 murders, according to a 2003 nationwide study by professors at Emory University. (Other studies have estimated the deterred murders per execution at three, five and 14).

• The Illinois moratorium on executions in 2000 led to 150 additional homicides over four years following, according to a 2006 study by professors at the University of Houston.

• Speeding up executions would strengthen the deterrent effect. For every 2.75 years cut from time spent on death row, one murder would be prevented, according to a 2004 study by an Emory University professor.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/...6bLeDZYMWs0NUE

[Bill Bumface]

Weird, I did a report on this in high school, and at the time almost all the published sudies on tihs indicated the opposite.

[RougeUnderoos]

"We just don't have enough data to say anything," said Justin Wolfers, an economist at the Wharton School of Business who last year co-authored a sweeping critique of several studies, and said they were "flimsy" and appeared in "second-tier journals."

snip

Some claim that the pro-deterrent studies made profound mistakes in their methodology, so their results are untrustworthy. Another critic argues that the studies wrongly count all homicides, rather than just those homicides where a conviction could bring the death penalty. And several argue that there are simply too few executions each year in the United States to make a judgment.

[Displaced Flames fan]

I don't think you need studies to say one way or the other.

Most crime is commited out of desperation, obsession and compulsion, lunacy, inebriation or heat of passion. Do any people in the throes of these forces take the time to (do they even have the ability to) consider the consequences?

I don't think the death penalty is a deterrent...and I'm not anti-death penalty.

[Hemi-Cuda]

in a perfect world, i'm all for the death penalty. if you know you have the right guy and they have committed such a heinous act, then they've forfeited their right to life and society should be spared the burden of having to care for them

however we don't get a perfect world, we get a justice system that throws teenagers in prison for a decade just for being a kid, and murderers can get away with only a few years behind bars. would you really trust a system like that with getting the ultimate sentence right? when those in charge care more about politics and furthering their own agendas, you'll never have a truly fair trial. just reading about all the guys who have been on death row who were wrongly convicted makes my stomach turn

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

however we don't get a perfect world, we get a justice system that throws teenagers in prison for a decade just for being a kid, and murderers can get away with only a few years behind bars. would you really trust a system like that with getting the ultimate sentence right? when those in charge care more about politics and furthering their own agendas, you'll never have a truly fair trial. just reading about all the guys who have been on death row who were wrongly convicted makes my stomach turn

Well said. I often say in arguments about this that for me, a prerequisite for supporting the death penalty would be a justice system that never makes mistakes.

But of course, that's an impossible standard. For me, the bigger argument is a moral one--how can we teach the message that killing people is wrong if the state also kills people? Shouldn't the state be held to the highest moral standard in the land?

I don't have data or studies to back up this claim--but I would guess that a stable society with strong ethical values, widespread social equality (i.e. a vibrant and populous middle class) and both help and opportunity for the desperate would prevent far more crimes than deterrence in any case.

Deterrence is based on a police state model--the idea being that we would all commit crimes if we didn't know we'd be punished. What would be the result of moving to a values-based model where laws are enforced, but a culture of obeying laws because they are right and just is fostered and taught?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

in a perfect world, i'm all for the death penalty. if you know you have the right guy and they have committed such a heinous act, then they've forfeited their right to life and society should be spared the burden of having to care for them

however we don't get a perfect world, we get a justice system that throws teenagers in prison for a decade just for being a kid, and murderers can get away with only a few years behind bars. would you really trust a system like that with getting the ultimate sentence right? when those in charge care more about politics and furthering their own agendas, you'll never have a truly fair trial. just reading about all the guys who have been on death row who were wrongly convicted makes my stomach turn

Yep, good post.

That is exactly why I am against the death penalty.

There is a margin for error...might be small...but people can still make mistakes and get the wrong guy.

[JBR]

I would think that 100% of criminals that experience the dealth penalty do not become repeat offenders.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by JBR

I would think that 100% of criminals that experience the dealth penalty do not become repeat offenders.

Same with 100% of the innocent people convicted.