Death Penalty deters crime - WHY wouldn't you want to have it if it stops one innocent death from happening?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/ap_on_re_us/death_penalty_deterrence;_ylt=AlUr5XPu87cbq4cZIj6fJ.Cs0NUE

The steady drumbeat of DNA exonerations — pointing out flaws in the justice system — has weighed against capital punishment. The moral opposition is loud, too, echoed in Europe and the rest of the industrialized world, where all but a few countries banned executions years ago.

What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument — whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer.

Answer 1

I support the death penalty, because it does deter crime
at least it deters the crime of that individual. It kills me
though that the liberals demonstrate against the death
penalty because of cruel and unusual punishment, isn't
stabbing someone to death or beating someone to death
cruel and unusual? These idiots are talking about an
insertion of a needle, something we all get when having
a blood test.

I don't think that murders should be placed on death row
for 20 years, thier victims didn't get an additional 20 years
to live their lives. If the evidence against them is in the form
of DNA, the guy should get his sentence within a week,
no appeals, zip, no nota.

Non DNA evidence, you get one appeal, if still found
guilty, 1 week and you are out of here.

Answer 2

The studies you refer to are not confirmed by most researchers in the field. They were based on limited data in regions and at times with no executions or homicides. The clearest rebuttal is, of course, the fact that homicide rates are higher in states with the death penalty than in those without it- including states bordering on each other.

Edit- I see that some people who answered do not understand the difference between deterrence (persuading others not to commit the crime for which someone has been punished) and incapacitation (preventing recidivism.) Life without parole accomplishes incapacitation and satifies the requirements for a punishment to be a deterrent - is it sure and swift (the death penalty is neither.)

Answer 3

I am for the death penalty - in extreme cases and/or with an admission of guilt. The problem is that the death penalty tends to be given more often to poor minorities as they lack the ability to pay for the best legal representation.

I have seen studies on both sides of the issue - some say it does reduce recidivism, some say it doesn't. One thing is certain, though. It will stop the person receiving the sentence from committing another crime.

Answer 4

I totally support capital punishment and always have. If someone premeditates murder he or she deserves whatever they get, and more. I do think that 10-20 years on death row by getting repeated "appeals" is ridiculous and undermines what the death penalty is all about. True, I guess there could be mistakes, but what about the innocent victim? They didnt have ANY chance. The idea there could be a mistake and the wrong person put to death, should be a detterant for people to not commit murder. If it is not, that is their problem and they should suffer any of the consequences.

Answer 5

Love the NeoCons "logic". The US is the only industrialized country to have the death penalty yet has the highest murder rate. To go one further, the supposed "free" country the US, has the highest number of it's citizens behind bars of ANY country, that includes communist countries as well. If it deters crime while its in use now, maybe we can use it more and drive the murder rate higher.
On the other hand if we had a war crimes trial and the death penalty was used we might of saved 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers lives and 200,000 to 500,000 civilian lives in Iraq. You might have a point.
Your "facts"? Fox or wikipedia?
Happy trolling!

Answer 6

So we are the only country in the Western World with the death penalty - and have the worst murder rates in the Western World.
Texas has higher murder rates than most blue states.
Yet Repubs claim that the death penalty is a deterrent. So in other words Repubs are bashing American by saying we are not just way more violent than most cultures - but way more again as it is only the death penalty that stops us murdering each other in our beds. And it is red states leading the charge of mass murder.
What a nice bunch of people - give them a week - they will find some outrageous way to use this to justify giving mentally ill Koreans automatic weapons soon.
And have a look at the findings - between 3 and 18 murders??? And they claim global warming models are unreliable.

Answer 7

Stopping just one innocent death is exactly the reason we should not have capital punishment. Once a wrongly accused person is executed' he or she cannot be brought back. For many truly guilty people life in prison with no possibility of parole would seem worse than death.

Answer 8

I support the death penalty although I believe that the endless years that people spend on death row makes it a joke as a deterrent.

I believe that the importance of the death penalty is that it's the ultimate respect for life. When somebody steals, there is a quantitative harm done. When a life is taken, there is no value that can be assigned to that loss and as a society we should require ones life for murder.

I also believe that treason and child molestation should carry a death sentence.

Answer 9

Actually, the death penalty does not deter crime. We have the death penalty in this country and the crime rate is going up. And, our prisons are overflowing to the point that we have the highest rate of incarceration in the free world. The fact that there is such a high rate of prisoners on death row that were wrongly convicted makes your posting a joke. Show us the academic studies done. Who did these studies in this article? Who were the authors of the study? One comment came from an economics professor. What in the world does her profession have to do with incarceration? Nothing. It was complete conjecture on her part. This was one of the worst articles on Yahoo news. Where are the stats and the questions in which they asked for the survey and study. It doesn't give it.
With Japan and Europe's low low rate of crime and even lower rate of murder and no capital punishment, I'd say that argument the article makes is completely false. The entire world knows this.

The fact remains that states without the death penalty have much lower murder rates than those with harsh sentences. This is fact and it is backed up by FBI statistics and evidence.

Answer 10

The crime of murder has only risen in the states that recently rescinded or put a hold on capitol punishment and the states with a large rise in the number of illegal aliens.

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