Does the death penalty really deter criminals?
A recent Associated Press article analyzed new findings in a decades-old debate on whether the death penalty deters crime. Among other conclusions, several studies determined that each execution deters three to 14 murders. A 2003 Emory University nationwide study concluded that one execution prevented 18 homicides. Not only do these studies seem unreliable, but the numbers alone aren’t enough to convince me that the death penalty is a necessary form of punishment. Arguments over deterrence have raged on since the 1970s, when a special panel from the National Academy of Sciences invalidated a similar report presented by economist Isaac Ehrlich. The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) — a non-profit organization supplying neutral information on capital punishment issues — mentions a 2000 survey by The New York Times that found that during the past 20 years, the murder rate in states with the death penalty has been 48 to 101 percent higher than in states without the death penalty. A
