Does capital punishment deter crime?
Richard C. Dieter is a lawyer and executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti–capital punishment advocacy group. Summary: In a nationwide poll, a group of randomly selected police chiefs were asked what they believe really works in fighting crime and whether the death penalty is an effective crime-fighting tool. While many of the chiefs support the death penalty philosophically, a strong majority do not believe that it is an effective law enforcement tool in practice. Police chiefs view other methods of controlling crime as…
