death penalty?

Question

some say that the death penalty is not a deterrent,
what is a deterrent
and why the death penalty is not a deterrent??

Answer 1

A deterrent is a punishment which will prevent a crime through fear or enactment of that punishment.

In my opinion, the DP is a deterent. The recidivism (repeat) rate of convicted murderers is about 7%. In other words, regardless of the jail time or other punishments currently given to criminals, 7% will eventually kill again. (Don't agree with 7%?, then put in 1%, or 50%, the percentage doesn't matter to this discussion, only that it happens)

The recidivism rate for those that have been given the DP is, well, zero. Not to many dead criminals perform another crime.

An argument against DP is that states with the DP have the same or higher rates of murder, so therefore the DP doesn't work. But there are many factors to such statistics, and no-one has shown a valid statistical relationship one way or the other between overall crime rate and the DP.

But there are very definite statistics on murderers who were released from prison and killed again. And more on murderers who have killed while in prison. The last person killed in California had escaped the DP after killing two people, only to pay to have four more killed while he was serving to remove witnesses. Three of them were teenagers unrelated to his crimes. I think the DP would have detered his crime, while his life sentence did not. Four murders would have been detered.

Answer 2

The death penalty is not in any way a deterrent to murder. A deterrent is something that makes you stop doing something because you fear the results of that action. I remember when, in the U.K., the death penalty was removed - there was no change whatsoever in the rate of murders. It must be remembered that there are many types of murder, over 90% are "domestic murders" - a huge argument at home and someone picks up a cooking knife and the next thing is that another person is dead. There was no premeditation, just a sudden act of violence. Nothing will ever change or prevent these situations, this is life. The only murders which might just be reduced by having the death sentence are those carried out as deliberate acts of revenge or those done by criminals when committing a crime, and even this is VERY doubtful.
The only area I find extremely difficult is how to handle criminals like James Bundy, a mass murderer who killed nearly thirty women. Clearly this is not criminal in accepted terms but someone who is not a normal human being. What do you do - spend hundreds of thousands each year keeping him incarcerated for the rest of his life knowing that at any time he may escape and do the same thing again or do you remove this danger to society for ever? I do not know the answer to this question and I am very glad that it is not my responsibility to come up with a solution.

Answer 3

Comparisons of states with and without capital punishment reveals that the death penalty does not deter serious crime. Difficult to predict why the death penalty is a deterrence. Many serious crimes, murder, are spur of the moment actions induced by anger and alcohol. The consequences are not considered at the moment. Many criminals also just feel they won't get caught.
Often the case with 'car jacking' resulting in homicide.
Many opponents attempt to use the lack of deterrence as a justification of doing away with the penalty. They can't convince the individual states, so they use the Federal Courts and Congress in many attempts to eliminate it. The Constitution does not prohibit the death penalty and if you read what Jefferson considered cruel and unusual punishment, along with Madison, you'd be amazed. Jefferson was all for castration for rapists.
Should there be a death penalty. My perspective is yes. Did the victims of murder, torture and rape have the benefit of 12 jurors, a defense attorney, and judicial reviews before they were killed or assaulted? You know the answer. Why should the criminals not have to pay for their crimes?

Answer 4

I think what is meant by "the death penalty is not a deterrent" is because if it were, people would stop committing crimes that may be punishable by the death penalty. Even though someone is sentenced to death, they know that they will probably not be put to death anytime soon in this country. They know that they will still live quite a while, even if it is in jail. Saddam was sentenced to death. In that country the sentence has to be carried out within a certain amount of days. I would say that rule would be a good deterrent don't you?

Answer 5

A deterrent is something that keeps people (or criminals in this case) from committing an act out of fear of receiving a particular punishment. The reason the death penalty isn't a deterrent is because it hasn't reduced the amount of crime(first degree murder since we're talking about the death penalty). People are still committing murders even though the death penalty is in place...so it hasn't stopped (or deterred) anyone from committing this act.

Answer 6

David M: you're doing it wrong. There are less/no death penalties in those states BECAUSE there's less murders, not the other way around.

The DP might be a deterrent, it might not (to other people, anyway. Bud's girl put a long-had idea of mine into words, haha.) - we won't know unless we remove it, and I don't think that's a good idea. What I do think should happen is we publicize it, let the public know exactly what happens during an execution. Put it on TV. The more people know what happens, how it happens, when, where, what kind of a room it happens in, the table you're on... the more people know what will happen to them down the the last detail, the more the thought is going to stick with them.

(To those who are afraid children will see it, 1. Then restrict their access to it, don't let the TV babysit your kids. 2. Or, sit there with them and make use of it as a deterrent - explain what's going on.)

I believe the government has the right to step in and take the life of a person who has broken the laws and killed a fellow human being. I do not believe that the DP is murder, for reasons that I can't explain in words.

This is one of the few issues that I'm conservative on.

Answer 7

Here are some facts, definitions. Some of your answers are mistaken. The issue is too important not to have the facts.

Deterrence means that if someone is punished for a crime, others will not commit the same crime. The term used for preventing the same person from repeating the crime is incapacitation.

The death penalty is not a deterrent. States with the death penalty have higher homicide rates than states that do not have it. People who commit murder do not think they will be caught, if they think at all. Note to b9teamchief- for sources, you might take a look at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/offenses/standard_links/regional_estimates.html, the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2005. (Stats for 2006 are preliminary.)

Society needs to ways to keep us as safe as possible from criminals. 48 of 50 states now have life without parole on the books. It means what it says, and 23 hours a day in a tiny cell is no picnic.

Life without parole incapacitates the criminal.

Answer 8

whether the death penalty is a deterrent or not, it is a means to an end. Execute the animal, and that animal will never harm another innocent. Execute the animal, and taxpayers no longer have to support it. I personally think we should execute more violent criminals, especially those who commit sexually related crimes. How often have I read in the news about a young girl who was raped and murdered, and oh yeah.....her attacker was released from prison after serving time for a previous violent rape?

Answer 9

Sociopaths never believe they will get caught, and have no ability to do other than what they want to do, so penalties are not a deterrent..... however, if they are executed by the government, they can't do antisocial acts like murder again.

Answer 10

I think it is a deterrent. It deters the person who killed someone from ever doing it again. It is a type of relief for the families of the deceased, and doesn't force taxpayers to pay for this **()*() for the rest of his life.
P.S. A deterrant is something that stops the wrong act from happening again.