There's No Evidence The Death Penalty Deters Crime

Capital punishment is very popular with the majority of Americans. Maybe, in part, because it feeds the inborn human need to feel revenge. The death penalty is also very popular politically and provides a way for politicians to show that they are fighting crime. Thirty-eight states have death penalty statutes and several other states are considering legislation to enact it. Yet, is capital punishment really effective and does it deter crime? I believe that it does not.

Polls show that most Americans support the death penalty and see it as a deterrent to crime. In a 1991 Gallup poll, 76 percent of the sample surveyed favored the death penalty. However. the question was then posed that if new evidence showed that the death penalty didn't reduce crime would they still favor it. In that context, only 52 percent supported it. (Akers and Radelet 3). "These findings indicate, that the assumption of a deterrent effect is a major factor in public and political endorsement of the death penalty." (Ibid.)

In contrast, criminologists and police officers do not view the death penalty as a deterrent to crime. In a poll of 386 police chiefs and county sheriffs, six choices were presented as ways to reduce crime. The officers chose the death penalty as the last way to reduce crime. (Ibid. 3) "...There is a wide consensus among America's top criminologists that scholarly research has demonstrated that the death penalty does, and can do little to reduce the rates of criminal violence." (Ibid. 9)

The death penalty is good for political candidates because the public favors it. When George Pataki became governor of New York, he re-enacted the death penalty. This is what he had to say about it: "These new laws are working. Since I took o...

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...g crime and for this reason alone it should be abolished.

Works Cited and Consulted

Akers, Ronald, and Michael L. Radelet. "Deterrence and the Death Penalty: The Views of the Experts." Journal of Criminal Lawand Criminology. Fall 1996. 1-16. Online. Infotrac Searchbank. 31 Oct. 1997.

Brownlee, Shannon, and Dan McGraw and Jason Vest. "The Place for Vengeance." U.S. News & World Report. 16 June 1997: 25-32.

Freedman, Eric M. "The Case Against the Death Penalty." USA Today Magazine. Mar. 1997: 48-50. Online. Infotrac Searchbank. 31 Oct. 1997.

Luciano, Phil. "Soul Searching Follows Sedate Send-Off." Journal Star. 23 Oct. 1997: B1-2

Pataki, George E. "Death Penalty is a Deterrent." USA Today Magazine. Mar. 1997: 52-54. Online. Infotrac Searchbank. 31 Oct. 1997.

Worsnop, Richard. "Death Penalty Debate." CQ Researcher. 10 Mar. 1995: 194-213.