DEATH PENALTY EFFECT ON CRIME RATE

Does the death penalty have an effect on crime rate?

Does the death penalty have an effect on crime rate?

Introduction

Evidence on the deterrent effect of capital punishment is significant for many countries which is reviewing its position on this topic. The death penalty has been the matter of strong debate in American history. Death penalty laws were first established in 1767, Cesare Beccaria wrote an essay century doubt that the state has the right to remove life. In June 1972, the Supreme Court suspended the death penalty in the United States. In 1976, the death penalty was re-establishes, and the state may once again to carry out executions.

Currently, there are thirty-eight States with the death penalty, and twelve that have abolished the death penalty. New York is included as one of the state death penalty, but in June 2004 in New York, said that his death penalty law is unconstitutional. In 1999, at least 1813 prisoners were executed in 31 countries, and 3857 people were sentenced to death in 64 countries. The actual numbers may be even higher. Almost 85% of all known executions in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States. However, a major study death penalty recently suggested that more than two thirds of the convictions in the U.S. so that the shortcomings aside on appeal.

Discussion

Most of the death penalty based on the belief that the threat of death makes prospective criminals think twice before resorting to certain crimes - such as murder, and forces them to give up on such crimes. Even though, the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent of crime is used to gather the support of this notion for quite some time now, it keeps people from turning to crime, the problem statement. The study, published in 'Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology', found that 88 percent of American criminologists believe that the death penalty has not been an effective deterrent to crime. In fact, approximately 87 percent of the respondents of this study had the view that the elimination of the death penalty would not have a major impact on crime rates in the country itself (Banner,2002 Pp.12).

On the contrary, some criminologists are of the opinion that the deterrent effect of punishment in itself - one of several factors, which causes a person to indulge in crime and failure, it can help us reduce crime substantially. An example of Canada's murder rate than decreased after the elimination of the death penalty in 1976 is commonly used by these people to support their opinion. It should also pay attention to the fact that those criminals who seek to convey a lot of planning the crime, will never be called a threat of being caught and convicted. Such would be the case when it comes to crimes of mentally damaged people or children, for which the death penalty is rarely act as a deterrent.

The Idea of the Death Penalty Used as Deterrence

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