[Writer Name]

[Supervisor Name]

[Subject]

[Date]

Capital Punishment- Is the Death Penalty Effective

Introduction

Public opinion on capital punishment has been researched more thoroughly and for a longer period than perhaps any other crime-prevention issue. Currently, when asked if they support the death penalty for someone convicted of murder, about 70% of Americans say yes. For the past 25 years, support has varied no more than about 5% from this level. At its lowest point, during the mid-1960s, Americans' support for this sanction dropped to less than half. A level of complexity is added to public opinion toward capital punishment when consideration is given to how opinion questions are asked and which portion of the public responds. When life in prison without the possibility of ever being released is explicitly offered as an alternative sentence for people convicted of murder, the portion of the public who still endorse the death penalty is substantially lower. When opinion is measured more concretely, such as by asking a person would be willing to carry out an execution, far fewer people have a willing to embrace the death penalty. In terms of subgroups of the American population, researchers have found fairly consistently that women and African Americans hold less favorable opinions of capital punishment than men and Whites. Additional evidence speaks to whether the public favors capital punishment as a crime-prevention measure or for other reasons. A third of the American public believes that the death penalty serves to deter others from committing murder. Furthermore, when asked for their reasons for supporting capital punishment, about 10% mention incapacitation. About four in ten Americans say they support it because it is what the offender deserves. Therefore, all the aspects related to Capital Punishment have been discussed in detail.

Importance of Deterrence

Deterrence can be understood as the prevention of criminal behavior through fear of punishment. Deterrence theory posits that criminal behavior can be prevented by threatening would-be offenders with punishment that produces pain or loss that outweighs any pleasure, reward, or gain associated with criminality. Deterrence is evident throughout the fight against crime. For example, the most common punishment in the United States, probation leads to the application of many rules to offenders who are allowed to live in the community. Offenders should be deterred from committing future crimes for fear that they might have to check in with a probation officer, abide by travel restrictions, and so forth. Similarly, individuals should be deterred by the thought of being incarcerated in prisons or jails, given that they are violent and repressive places. Any criminal who goes to prison ought to be afraid to go back. In addition, all of society should fear suffering the pains of imprisonment, which include loss of freedom, loss of autonomy, loss of privacy, loss of goods and services, and so on. Thus, crime will be specially and generally deterred. Capital punishment is built around the assumption that executions deter would-be murderers. Many criminologists believe human beings are rational and motivated by the desire for personal pleasure and ...