Does the death penalty work?

Question

Has there been less or more crimes with death penalty

Answer 1

well yes, when someone goes to "the chair" they don't come back. But does it deter people from committing crimes? don't think so......

Answer 2

The death penalty doesn't deter anything. All the death penalty does is keep lawyers in there Porsche's. It also and the main political reason the death penalty is around is so that victims families can get there pound of flesh! The legal system is too screwed up to keep a death penalty around just look at all the death row inmates freed when DNA evidence set them free. It was so bad in Indiana that they stopped the death penalty in that state until a new governor was elected and now the state killing machine has started up again without fixing the problems that incarcerated all those innocent guys. All it took was a bad witness ID and they were on death row how easily it could be some of you death penalty advocates.

Answer 3

What do you mean by 'does it work'? On the basis you mean in relation to crime rates, and serious crimes committed I think that so many variables have been introduced over the years people both pro and anti will be able to cherry pick facts to suit their arguments. Social conditions change, morals and religious influences change, peer pressure and parental influence change, opportunity to commit crime and also detection methods change change, There are official govt. statistics and peoples own perception, the latter which may or may not be correct. Most serious crimes which could be considered deserving of the death penalty are actually committed by people known to and close to the victim and not likely to be deterred by the existence of a death penalty. Sure there are horrendous crimes where people will say the convicted offenders should be executed if they are sure that person did it but off course no one should be convicted at all of any crime unless people are sure they are truly guilty and we all know examples where the executed person has been posthumously proven innocent. What % error rate would be acceptable if a death penalty remained ? I do not believe in state execution but I do think life should mean life and many other sentences are too soft. Finally if it did work for what offences would you have it as the penalty and why do people still for example smuggle drugs in countries where every one knows a death penalty exists ? No I don't think it works but as the ultimate act of revenge in a civilised society its the best option.

Answer 4

They've been giving people the death penalty since biblical times. Has crime gone down? I don't think so. Will crime ever go down? I don't think so. We keep trying to find new ways to punish people. Keep finding ways for the government to make catching criminals easier. Will that ever be the solution to stopping crime? No. 'Cause the criminal doesn't think about getting caught. And that method doesn't work on people from the slums with nothing to lose and everything to prove. Those are the people we gotta watch out for. We need to find a solution that solves the problems of society from within. We need to focus more on preventing crime from happening in the first place, not punishing crime after it's happened. Yes, punish the criminal, but don't spend more time trying to catch the crook than trying to prevent the crook from existing in the first place! And the justice system is not perfect. It's bad enough when an innocent man goes to jail, but what if an innocent man has to die for someone elses crime???

Answer 5

With population increase, the amount of crimes committed is sure to rise with it. The only true way to measure is by crimes per capita, which has actually been decreasing over the last 13 or 14 years, seemingly worldwide, although the only information I've looked at is U.S. statistics.

However, over the last 75 years, as the number of executions lowered, murders per capita rose. Since the mid 1980s executions have been rising, and in return the number of homicides per capita has lowered.

In terms of homicides, the death penalty does seem to be an effective deterrent, but I'm not sure if the same is true over all violent crimes.

Answer 6

I dont think it has been used effectively enough.
I also think MORE crimes should carry a possible Capitol Punishment sentence, such as all crimes against children, the elderly, the disabled and all crimes of violence like rape, aggravated robbery, felonious assault, sexual battery and armed robbery.
I think if the sentence is passed for death, the convicted person should be allowed no more than ONE year to get their affairs in order, choose to make their peace with God or not, prepare their loved ones for their time of death and then be executed...none of this stay of execution BS.
IF the death penalty were used in this way and the sentence was carried out quickly, I think it would be a deterent for crime OR at least a way to rid our society of these people.

Answer 7

No, the death penalty does not work and has not
reduced crimes. You only have to note crimes that
have been commited by fanatics, lunatics or in name of
religious belief and it is quite clear that the death penalty
may curb some, but others believe that death is a Godsend
which will be awarded with an eternal and glorious afterlife.

Answer 8

Clearly it doesn't work. States in the US that operate the death penalty also have some of the highest crime rates.

Answer 9

Surveys of criminals report that if a criminal knows the death penalty is a possibility, then they try to avoid the crime to earn that penalty. This was the result of surveys and interviews going through the 1980s. Now, with so much youth violence and gang activity, I don't know if the results will still stand. I can't see the killing of another individual, regardless of him/her being the victim or the offender, being of much good at all.

Answer 10

I believe if you study the results state by state you will see that death penalty states have at least the same if not a higher murder rate than non death penalty states. My own belief in this regard is that ANY killing --- and especially killing by the state ---encourages more killing.

Answer 11

There are far fewer crimes in European countries, where the death penalty was banned long ago.

And America, the "land of the free, and the home of the brave" is the only place left where the death penalty is enforced. By the school shootings and violence witnessed in our country alone, I can assume the death penalty is no deterent, merely a vengeful fix.