The Death Penalty

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to violent crimes. It examines both sides of the debate in order to determine if the death penalty is an effective deterrent to crime or if it is simply a waste of taxpayer money. The paper presents sociological studies supporting both sides of this aspect of the death penalty debate.

Table of Contents:
Comparative Studies
Econometric Studies
How do we Decide Who is Right?
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"On the other hand, opponents cannot disprove a causal relationship either. However, the burden of proof is not upon them. If they can discredit the argument of the other side by presenting conflicting results and inconclusive evidence, then their argument is supported by default. The original research question was whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. If one considers the lack of positive proof, then the answer would have to favor those that say it does not. Therefore, one could support the position that due to a lack of substantial evidence that the death penalty deters crime, the practice of the death penalty must be reconsidered in support of less severe punishment. Those that oppose the death penalty do so based on a lack of evidence that it deters crime. This argument is logical, even in light of lack of evidence to the contrary."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Archer, D. and Gartner, R (1984). Homicide and the death penalty: A cross-national test of A deterrence hypothesis. In Archer and Gartner, Violence and Crime in Cross-National Perspective, New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Dezhbaksh, H., Robin, P., and Shepherd, J. (2002). Does capital punishment have a Deterrent effect? New evidence from post-moratorium panel data. American Law and Economics Review 5(2): 344-376.Retrieved February 5, 2007, from: http://aler.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/ abstract/5/2/344.
• Fagan, J. (2005). Deterrence And The Death Penalty: A Critical Review Of New Evidence. Testimony to the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Codes. Columbia Law School. January 21, 2005. Retrieved February 4, 2007 from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FaganTestimony.pdf
• FBI (2003) Uniform Crime Reports. Released June 16, 2003. Retrieved February 5, 2007 from http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_02/02prelimannual.pdf.
• Fessenden, F. (2000). Deadly statistics: A survey of crime and punishment. The New York Times September 22, 2000.

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