Death Penalty Deters Murders, Studies Say
Anti-death penalty forces have gained momentum in the past few years, with a moratorium in Illinois, court disputes over lethal injection in more than a half-dozen states and progress toward outright abolishment in New Jersey.
The steady drumbeat of DNA exonerations — pointing out flaws in the justice system — has weighed against capital punishment. The moral opposition is loud, too, echoed in Europe and the rest of the industrialized world, where all but a few countries banned executions years ago.
What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument — whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer.
The reports have horrified death penalty opponents and several scientists, who vigorously question the data and its implications.
So far, the studies have had little impact on public policy. New Jersey's commission on the death penalty this year dismissed the body of knowledge on deterrence as "inconclusive."
But the ferocious argument in academic circles could eventually spread to a wider audience, as it has in the past.
"Science does really draw a conclusion. It did. There is no question about it," said Naci Mocan, an economics professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. "The conclusion is there is a deterrent effect."
A 2003 study he co-authored, and a 2006 study that re-examined the data, found that each execution results in five fewer homicides, and commuting a death sentence means five more homicides. "The results are robust, they don't really go away," he said. "I oppose the death penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) — what am I going to do, hide them?"
Statistical studies like his are among a dozen papers since 2001 that capital punishment has deterrent effects. They all explore the same basic theory — if the cost of something (be it the purchase of an apple or the act of killing someone) becomes too high, people will change their behavior (forego apples or shy away from murder).
To explore the question, they look at executions and homicides, by year and by state or county, trying to tease out the impact of the death penalty on homicides by accounting for other factors, such as unemployment data and per capita income, the probabilities of arrest and conviction, and more.
Among the conclusions:
Each execution deters an average of 18 murders, according to a 2003 nationwide study by professors at Emory University. (Other studies have estimated the deterred murders per execution at three, five and 14).
The Illinois moratorium on executions in 2000 led to 150 additional homicides over four years following, according to a 2006 study by professors at the University of Houston.
Speeding up executions would strengthen the deterrent effect. For every 2.75 years cut from time spent on death row, one murder would be prevented, according to a 2004 study by an Emory University professor.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The steady drumbeat of DNA exonerations — pointing out flaws in the justice system — has weighed against capital punishment. The moral opposition is loud, too, echoed in Europe and the rest of the industrialized world, where all but a few countries banned executions years ago.
What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument — whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer.
The reports have horrified death penalty opponents and several scientists, who vigorously question the data and its implications.
So far, the studies have had little impact on public policy. New Jersey's commission on the death penalty this year dismissed the body of knowledge on deterrence as "inconclusive."
But the ferocious argument in academic circles could eventually spread to a wider audience, as it has in the past.
"Science does really draw a conclusion. It did. There is no question about it," said Naci Mocan, an economics professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. "The conclusion is there is a deterrent effect."
A 2003 study he co-authored, and a 2006 study that re-examined the data, found that each execution results in five fewer homicides, and commuting a death sentence means five more homicides. "The results are robust, they don't really go away," he said. "I oppose the death penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) — what am I going to do, hide them?"
Statistical studies like his are among a dozen papers since 2001 that capital punishment has deterrent effects. They all explore the same basic theory — if the cost of something (be it the purchase of an apple or the act of killing someone) becomes too high, people will change their behavior (forego apples or shy away from murder).
To explore the question, they look at executions and homicides, by year and by state or county, trying to tease out the impact of the death penalty on homicides by accounting for other factors, such as unemployment data and per capita income, the probabilities of arrest and conviction, and more.
Among the conclusions:
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Also, there may be long-term vs. short-term effects. The death penalty reinforces the idea that it is ok to kill someone in order to derive a benefit. I have noticed that I reading about an execution causes me to feel less caring about people I don't know.
The FBI put out a report which ultimately shows that capital punishment does not deter NOR encourage violent crimes.
I say again, the death penalty is neutral in the sense it doesn't influence crimes by other people. What it does do though is prevents that individual from doing whatever they did to get themselves executed.
And yeah, Jeffrey Dahmer had a history of *** crimes violence - molesting little kids and killing animals (profilers see this as a precursor to murder) . . . actually that's one other argument in favor of the DP - Wisconsin doesn't have an official DP, so instead of having an execution, prison guards just kept giving Dahmer work assignments with the most violent people in prison until one finally finished the job.
At least 8% of those on death row had committed one or more murders prior to the murder(s) which put them on death row (23), suggesting that with 7,300 sentenced to death, since 1973, that those sent to death row had murdered at least 600 additional innocents after we failed to properly restrain them after their previous murder(s). Justice Department studies suggest that it is likely that some 2 million innocents have been harmed, 100,000 murdered, since 1973, by criminals while "supervised" by US criminal justice systems (parole, probation, mandatory release, furloughs, pre trial releases, etc.) (24).
One group of released death row inmates has been subject to limited review. In 1972 One group of released death row inmates was subject to limited review up till 1987. It appears that some 12 innocent people were murdered by those releases, in addition to other horrendous crimes committed by that same group, this part of the argument is of course are not counted by the media...
and Of course the death penalty will make people think twice about killing someone, that is just straight out logical and if between three and 18 innocent lives could be saved by the execution of each convicted killer, surely this would heavily out weigh the odd person who would be executed wrongly...
I also believe that child *** offenders should be excuted... It is far cheaper to excute the animal than to keep the rotter alive anyway..
jmmnycrckt said "If punishment were a deterent to crime then there would be no crime. Thus, since there is crime, punishment is not a deterent." Jimmy this is just rediculous, even Sinagpore has turned the crime rate around by being very strict about every thing, there will always be murders but people will think twice if they were also to die if caught..Within only a few months of schools doing away with corporal punishment, schools saw the down turn of the behaviour of children, now children rule the schools and homes... children are no longer taught self discipline, they dont have to they can get away with anything..
Self defense is the most basic of human rights and thank to the Second Amendment we can all be our very own bodyguards!
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One - Why is it that in Erope the murder rate is much much lower than in the US, despite the fact there s no death penalty. This means that any deterrent effect is statistically insignificant compared to some other factors - gun control perhaps?
Two - Why are the so called "right to lifers" generally more in favour of the death penalty. Presumably the right to life is only for foetuses.