Capital Punishment Should Not Be Abolished
Capital Punishment Should Not be Abolished
There are many reasons why the United States of America keeps capital punishment. These reasons include the deterrence theory, the idea of retribution, cost of prisons, and general safety of the public.
First of all, I’m sure that you have heard of the deterrence theory. Deterrence is basically the fear of punishment; and even though it doesn’t prevent all crimes, the results are still undeniable. The deterrence theory is when criminals think about the consequences of each crime, they weigh the pros and cons before they commit it, and if the consequence is death, the crime is usually avoided. It has been proven that the death penalty deters crime. In 1997 to 1999, law Professor Joanna Shepherd of Emory University conducted a study. The results clearly showed that on average each death sentence prevented an average murder of 1 white, 1.5 African American and 0.5 person of another race, meaning each execution resulted in 3 fewer murders (Mulhaulsen). Her study also discovered that a 2.75 year reduction of the death row meant 1 deterred murder, therefore the shorter the sentence, the increased deterrence. Furthermore, Professors H. Mocan and R. Gittings of the University of Colorado conducted a study by using state level data from 1977 to 1997. They analyzed the effect of executions, commutations and removals from death row on murder rate. They discovered that from each execution, there were 5 less murders and from each death sentence removal, there was 1 more murder (Mulhaulsen). Furthermore, Federal Communications Commission, Paul R. Zimmerman conducted two studies. In his first study, he used state level data from 1978 to 1997 and found out that from each execution, there were 14 fewer murders (Mulhaulsen). In his second study, he found out that execution by electrocution was the most effective at providing deterrence. It is obvious, from these genuine statistics from
There are many reasons why the United States of America keeps capital punishment. These reasons include the deterrence theory, the idea of retribution, cost of prisons, and general safety of the public.
First of all, I’m sure that you have heard of the deterrence theory. Deterrence is basically the fear of punishment; and even though it doesn’t prevent all crimes, the results are still undeniable. The deterrence theory is when criminals think about the consequences of each crime, they weigh the pros and cons before they commit it, and if the consequence is death, the crime is usually avoided. It has been proven that the death penalty deters crime. In 1997 to 1999, law Professor Joanna Shepherd of Emory University conducted a study. The results clearly showed that on average each death sentence prevented an average murder of 1 white, 1.5 African American and 0.5 person of another race, meaning each execution resulted in 3 fewer murders (Mulhaulsen). Her study also discovered that a 2.75 year reduction of the death row meant 1 deterred murder, therefore the shorter the sentence, the increased deterrence. Furthermore, Professors H. Mocan and R. Gittings of the University of Colorado conducted a study by using state level data from 1977 to 1997. They analyzed the effect of executions, commutations and removals from death row on murder rate. They discovered that from each execution, there were 5 less murders and from each death sentence removal, there was 1 more murder (Mulhaulsen). Furthermore, Federal Communications Commission, Paul R. Zimmerman conducted two studies. In his first study, he used state level data from 1978 to 1997 and found out that from each execution, there were 14 fewer murders (Mulhaulsen). In his second study, he found out that execution by electrocution was the most effective at providing deterrence. It is obvious, from these genuine statistics from