Is the death penalty an effective crime deterrent?
There is always one person for whom the death penalty is a strong deterrent – the person executed! There are always two reasons for any form of punishment. One of the reasons is to deter others from committing a crime due to the severity of the punishment. The second reason is to punish the man or the woman who committed a crime. When we are looking at the penalties that our justice system imposes on evildoers our first question always must be is it a fair punishment for the crime committed. It’s only of secondary importance to know whether that punishment will stop further crimes from being perpetrated. I want to know that when an innocent girl is beaten, raped and then murdered that our courts will be just but quick to enforce the law. I want to know that that criminal is going to get more then a slap on the wrist, more then a nice stay in one of our federal prisons. I want to know that he is being executed for such an evil crime. It’s about justice, not deterrence. But we can accomp
