Studies Indicate that the Death Penalty Deters Potential Murderers

Despite the gains made by anti-death penalty advocates over the past few years, including getting more people to accept the fact that the death penalty does not deter criminals, a series of studies indicate the opposite conclusion. According to an Associated Press article on foxnews.com, the studies, conducted over the past six years, show that the death penalty does deter potential murderers.

The studies have caused some controversy among death penalty opponents who question the studies or, like the New Jersey commission on the death penalty, call the results "inconclusive."

AP points out that groups opposed to the death penalty have had some successes in recent years: a moratorium against executions in Illinois, challenges to lethal injection as causing unnecessary pain, and the possibility of New Jersey ending the death penalty. However, the studies, if taken seriously, could change all this.

Among the conclusions reached by the studies are, according to AP:

• An execution deters murders. Studies varied in how many murders were prevented by each execution, ranging from a low of three to a high of 18.

• The moratorium on executions in Illinois in 2000 led to 150 additional homicides in the next four years.

• If executions were sped up with less time spent on appeals, the deterrent effect would be stronger. One study estimated that for every 2.75 years cut off a prisoner's time on death row, one murder would be prevented.

The author of one study found himself in a dilemma. His study showed that the death penalty does deter murders. He is personally opposed to the death penalty, but as he says, in the AP article. "The results are robust, they don't really go away. I oppose the death penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) - what am I going to do, hide them?"

A typical study of the effects of the death penalty looks at several factors, including executions and homicides according to year and state (and even county), unemployment data, per capita income, and other statistics.

According to AP, critics of the studies point to a variety of reasons to question the conclusions: methodological mistakes, counting all homicides instead of only those which could bring the death penalty, and the lack of a sufficient number of executions to reach valid conclusions. Says Justin Wolfers of the Wharton School of Business, "We just don't have enough data to say anything." His own criticism of the studies called them "flimsy."

Sources:

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,280215,00.html
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1848252/posts