Facts about Deterrence and the Death Penalty
Discussion of Recent Deterrence Studies
Comparing Murder Rates in Death Penalty and Non-Death Penalty States
Murder Rates by State: 1996 - 2008 (Updated September 2009)
Law Enforcement Views on Deterrence
Criminologists' Views on Deterrence: 2008 (see also 1998)
Murder of Children: How the U.S. Compares with Other Countries
News and Developments - Current Year
News and Developments - Previous Years
From DPIC
DETERRENCE
It might seem that the prospect of receiving a death sentence would deter would-be murderers from committing such offenses. However, many studies on deterrence and the death penalty do not support this idea, nor does the rate of murders in states with the death penalty. The murder rate in states that do not have the death penalty is consistently lower than in states with the death penalty. The South, which carries out over 80% of the executions in the U. S., has the highest murder rate of the four regions. Read More
A recent study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology reported that 88% of the country’s top criminologists surveyed do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide. Eighty-seven percent of them think that the abolition of the death penalty would not have a significant effect on murder rates and 77% believe that “debates about the death penalty distract Congress and state legislatures from focusing on real solutions to crime problems.” (M. Radelet and T. Lacock, DO EXECUTIONS LOWER HOMICIDE RATES?: THE VIEWS OF LEADING CRIMINOLOGISTS, 99 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 489 2009) Read More There have been many studies on deterrence over the years. Although some have claimed a deterrent effect, experts have raised questions about the methodologies used in these studies. Measuring why people do not commit crimes is very difficult and the studies have been, at best, inconclusive. Read More A national survey of police chiefs from around the country discredits the assertion that the death penalty is an important tool. Some of the conclusions of the police chiefs are:
Podcast For more information, see DPIC's Page on Deterrence. For a downloadable podcast about deterrence, click here or use the player below.
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Criminologists' Views on Deterrence and the Death Penalty
A recent survey of the most leading criminologists in the country from found that the overwhelming majority did not believe that the death penalty is a proven deterrent to homicide. Eighty-eight percent of the country’s top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide, according to a new study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology and authored by Professor Michael Radelet, Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and Traci Lacock, also at Boulder.
Similarly, 87% of the expert criminologists believe that abolition of the death penalty would not have any significant effect on murder rates. In addition, 75% of the respondents agree that “debates about the death penalty distract Congress and state legislatures from focusing on real solutions to crime problems.”
The survey relied on questionnaires completed by the most pre-eminent criminologists in the country, including Fellows in the American Society of Criminology; winners of the American Society of Criminology’s prestigious Southerland Award; and recent presidents of the American Society of Criminology. Respondents were not asked for their personal opinion about the death penalty, but instead to answer on the basis of their understandings of the empirical research.
(M. Radelet and T. Lacock, DO EXECUTIONS LOWER HOMICIDE RATES?: THE VIEWS OF LEADING CRIMINOLOGISTS, 99 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 489 2009)
To read the study, click here.