What kind of impact does the death penalty have on the criminal justice system?

Answer 1

Creates problems for it. As the number of wrongfully convicted people sentenced to death grows, many people are revisiting their views on the death penalty. What they are finding out tends to create a lack of confidence in the criminal justice system.

You don't have to sympathize with criminals or want them to avoid a terrible punishment to ask if the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime and to think about the risks of executing innocent people.

124 people on death rows have been released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted. DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides and isn’t a guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

The death penalty doesn't prevent others from committing murder. No reputable study shows the death penalty to be a deterrent. To be a deterrent a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in states and regions that have it than in states that don’t.

We have a good alternative. Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. It is sure and swift and rarely appealed. Life without parole is less expensive than the death penalty.

The death penalty costs much more than life in prison, mostly because of the legal process which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people.

The death penalty isn't reserved for the worst crimes, but for defendants with the worst lawyers. It doesn't apply to people with money. When is the last time a wealthy person was on death row, let alone executed?

The death penalty doesn't necessarily help families of murder victims. Murder victim family members across the country argue that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

Problems with speeding up the process. Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. If the process is speeded up we are sure to execute an innocent person.

Answer 2

People disagree about this. Apparently (see this month's NEw Yorker), there is some solid evidence that it does have a deterrent effect. It also, however, is a very expensive punishment for the criminal justice system -- the appeals, etc. are more time-consuming and expensive than wiht other forms of punishment (although some argue that life imprisonment is more costly in the long-term, I suppose). More importantly, there is also solid evidence that it is not applied evenly across races and that we have executed people later proven innocent. Even if it is a deterrent, is it worth it?

Answer 3

I'm no expert but I have read somewhere that when someone is convicted of a crime and sentenced to death, after the sentence is caried out there are quite a lot of statistics showing these people almost never commit such a crime again. I don't know if this is true but it does seem like a reasonable conclusion.

Answer 4

I think it is a sufficient deterrent, but I also think it is somewhat hypocritical.

Answer 5

saves lots of $$$ for the tax payers.