According to a new report from the FBI, the number of police officers killed in the line of duty declined in 2005 compared with 2004, and was 22% less than the number killed in 2001. Fifty-five law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in 2005, 57 in 2004, and 70 in 2001. The South had the largest number of police officers killed, almost three times more than any of the other regions in the country. Twenty-eight officers were killed in the South, 10 in the Midwest, 10 in the West, and 5 in the Northeast.
The FBI recently released the latest version of its Uniform Crime Reports: Crime in the United States 2005. The report showed that the murder rate in 2005 (5.6 murders per 100,000 people) was the same as in 2001, with little change in the intervening years. Death sentences, executions and the size of death row all declined during this period.
In an article entitled The Death Penalty: No Evidence for Deterrence, John Donnohue and Justin Wolfers examined recent statistical studies that claimed to show a deterrent effect from the death penalty. The authors conclude that the estimates claiming that the death penalty saves numerous lives "are simply not credible." In fact, the authors state that using the same data and proper methodology could lead to the exact opposite conclusion: that is, that the death penalty actually increases the number of murders. The authors state: "We show that with the most minor tweaking of the [re
The New School in New York City is sponsoring a research conference entitled "Punishment: The U.S. Record" to be held November 30 and December 1, 2006. The conference will cover all aspects of imprisonment and punishment in the U.S., but some speakers will focus on the death penalty. In particular, John Donohue III will examine recent deterrence studies and David Garland will discuss the function that capital punishment serves in society. Other speakers at the conference include U.S.
According to the FBI's Preliminary Uniform Crime Report for 2005, all regions of the country experienced a rise in murder rates in 2005. The Midwest had the largest increase (5.8%) and the West had the smallest increase (3.2%). Based on the increases reported by the FBI and the previous year's murder rates, the South again had the highest murder rate in the country-- 6.9 murders per 100,000 people--followed by the West (5.9), Midwest (5.0) and the Northeast (4.4). The rates for forcible rape were down in every area of the country. Final statistics will be available from the FBI in t
Daryl Mack, who repeatedly noted that he would rather be executed than
spend the next 20 years of his life on death row pursuing legal
appeals, was executed Wednesday for a 1988 murder
in Reno. Mack was convicted in 2002. He was the 12th person executed in Nevada since capital
punishment was reinstated in 1977, and the 11th to waive remaining appeals at the time of execution. He was the
first black man to be executed in the Nevada since executions resumed
in the state.
New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber (pictured) recently voiced her support for extending the state's moratorium on executions, noting that she does not believe the death penalty is a "necessary tool" for prosecutors and believes capital punishment does not deter crime. "I don't think it's a deterrent. And I understand revenge. I think some people deserve it. But I don't think it's a necessary tool. . . . I don't have a philosophical or religious opposition to the death penalty, I have a practical opposition to the death penalty," Farber stated.
A new edition of the Stanford Law Review contains an article entitled Uses and Abuses of Empirical Evidence in the Death Penalty Debate. The article examines and performs comparison tests on recent studies that have claimed a deterrent effect to the death penalty. Authors John J. Donohue of Yale Law School and Justin Wolfers of the University of Pennsylvania state their goal and conclusions:
