Does Capital Punishment Deter Murderers?
More than half the countries in the world have the death penalty. Since most countries have tracked homicide rates and solve rates for decades (right from the time of the roaring 30s in most cases), correlating the “death penalty” deterrent to success in curbing capital crimes should be straight forward. Putting aside “wrongfully executed” arguments (in the U.S. 23 people were wrongfully convicted between 1900 and 1995 according to Amnesty International), this investigation looks only at the deterrent value. Best and Worst Nations For Murder The U.S. was not among the top ten for “safest countries for murder” according to statistics compiled from Interpol. The best jurisdictions for safety were Slovenia, Austria, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Norway, Ireland, Finland and Singapore-some with capital punishment, most without. The worst jurisdictions mostly did have the death penalty, including: Columbia, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Albania, Venezuela, Russia, Ecuador, Mex
