Debunking Myths About Capital Punishment

Intellectual Conservative ^ | 6-15-07 | Michael P. Tremoglie

[policestory]

(By Michael P. Tremoglie author of the novel about the Philadelphia Police Department "A Sense of Duty" available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com He has been a columnist for the Philadelphia Bulletin, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. email him: elfegobaca@comcast.net http://home.comcast.net/~elfegobaca/index.htm)

June 11, 2007 was the sixth anniversary of the execution of the Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh. Despite the claims of capital punishment opponents that executions do not deter murders, McVeigh has not killed anyone else since his execution.

Those who want to abolish capital punishment have propagated the myth that capital punishment does not deter murder. Some have claimed that every reasonable criminologist who studied the issue determined that capital punishment is not a deterrent. Presumably, their definition of a reasonable criminologist is one who believes that capital punishment is not a deterrent.

The facts, however, are quite different. Many criminologists – and other social scientists – have concluded that capital punishment is a deterrent (a salient fact that I routinely used to point out to my graduate criminology professors).

Indeed, a 2003 study, published in the Journal of Law and Economics – and reviewed in 2006 – determined that capital punishment did deter homicides. The study investigated:

. . . the impact of the execution rate, commutation and removal rates, homicide arrest rate, sentencing rate, imprisonment rate, and prison death rate on the rate of homicide. The results show that each additional execution decreases homicides by about five, and each additional commutation increases homicides by the same amount, while an additional removal from death row generates one additional murder.

This is not the only academic study that concluded capital punishment’s deterrent effect:

A 2003 study by Emory University Economics Department Chairman Hashem Dezhbakhsh and Emory Professors Paul Rubin and Joanna Shepherd stated that “our results suggest that capital punishment has a strong deterrent effect.” Another 2003 study, by Clemson University’s Joanna Shepherd, established that each execution deters an average of five murders and that postponing executions reduced the deterrent effect. A 2002 Senate report declared there is a great deal of proof that capital punishment is a deterrent. The report affirms, “. . . there is overwhelming evidence that capital punishment saves a substantial number of innocent lives, deterring probably thousands of murders in the United States every year.” A November 2001 paper, presented to the American Society of Criminology said, “There has been a great deal of research conducted by criminologists on the effectiveness of the death penalty in preventing future homicides . . . While many of these studies find no deterrent effect there are other well designed research reports that reach the opposite conclusion.” There have been studies validating the efficacy of capital punishment for more than thirty years, yet, if all you knew was what the mainstream media reported you would think science had proven otherwise.

The good news, though, is that despite the well-funded, anti-capital punishment misinformation campaign, helped by a liberal media, the public still favors capital punishment:

A May 2006 Gallup poll indicated that Americans favor the death penalty; 65 percent favored it, while 28 percent opposed it. A December 2005 poll by the Pew Research Center revealed 62% of Americans favored capital punishment. A 2000 Zogby poll revealed that 78% of Italian-Americans, 75% of Asian-Americans, 73% of Hispanic-Americans, 71% of Arab-Americans and 64% of African-Americans favor capital punishment. This last fact is significant because capital punishment abolitionists have tried to portray the death penalty as racist. This is a tansparent attempt to discredit those who favor capital punishment. Yet, this too is not true.

A 1991 Rand Corporation study by Stephen Klein found that white murderers received the death penalty slightly more often than non-white murderers. It also examined the sentencing disparity for the race of the victim. Rand concluded that although murderers of whites did receive the death penalty more than murderers of blacks, when controlled for variables such as severity and number of crimes committed, there was no disparity.

Patrick A. Lanagan, PhD., a Department of Justice statistician, studied the phenomena and stated that there was no evidence that blacks and whites were treated differently.

Here are some facts about convicted murderers that provide a perspective about capital punishment that you will not get from the New York Times and other liberal media. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, as of Dec. 31, 2004, 8 percent of those sentenced to be executed had at least one previous homicide conviction; 3.4 percent (101 murderers) were already in prison when they murdered someone.

Those who say capital punishment is not a deterrent, or who say life imprisonment is an effective substitute, should examine these facts. They would also do well to heed the words of Edmund Burke, who once said, "The men who today snatch the worst criminals from justice will murder the most innocent persons tomorrow."

[MBB1984]

Good article. I get sick and tired of hearing that capital punishment is no deterrent to crime. These articles give ample ammunition to the contrary.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

Personally, I’d rather be dead than in prison forever.

[Christian4Bush]

mark

[policestory]

Very well researched. You should get his novel. Does the same thing. Makes the conservative case for law enforcement.

There is even a scene in the book where the main character, a Philly cop accused a using excessive force against a black drug bdealer, is talking about capital punishment with a rich liberal lawyer who is the father of his new girlfriend - who also is a lawyer who was trying to hang him for excessive force case like the LA cops in the Rodney King case were.

The rich lady lawyer and the poor cop fall in love during the trial after the cop’s wife leaves him.

There’s more to it than that but I don’t have the time to tell you the who plot. Great novel though.

[The Great RJ]

I would agree to ending capital punishment only if there were absolute certainty those given life sentences would not under any circumstance be released. The fact that Charles Manson is even eligible for parole shows the flaw in our system. There is ample evidence from no more than reading the news that dangerous felons such as those convicted of child molestation or murder are not being locked up and are being released under parole or legal technicalities and plea bargains only to commit those crimes again.

[NorthFlaRebel]

I'm in favor of Capital punishment, but not because of any possible deterrent effect. You intentionally take a life(self defense obviously not included), you forefeit yours.

The results show that each additional execution decreases homicides by about five, and each additional commutation increases homicides by the same amount, while an additional removal from death row generates one additional murder.

Personally, I do not buy this at all. There is absolutely no way they could come to such conclusions. Frankly, they just made that up.

“There has been a great deal of research conducted by criminologists on the effectiveness of the death penalty in preventing future homicides . . . While many of these studies find no deterrent effect there are other well designed research reports that reach the opposite conclusion.”

IOW, those against the DP conduct studies that show no deterrent effect and those in favor conduct studies to show the opposite. Same day, different story.

Lets see a show of hands: Who would commit murder if the ultimate penalty was life in prison instead of death?

That's what I thought.

[Joe 6-pack]

"There is ample evidence that...dangerous felons...are being released...only to commit those crimes again."

When you remove a wolf from the meadow and lock him up away from the sheep for a few years, the only thing that gets released is a hungry wolf.

[BuffaloJack]

Capital Punishment’s primary use is a deterent to repeat offenders. He dead. He ain’t gonna do that again.

[policestory]

The fact is that there are studies which show deterrence of capital punishment whether you believe them or not is irrelevant.

For every objection that you have to pro-capital punishmment studies I can have a similar one to anti-captial punishment studies.

As far as your question about life v death that is stupid. I wouldn’t murder anyone no matter what the penalty.

[MBB1984]

The real question is whether someone who wants to commit murder would be less likely do to so if he or she would face the death penalty instead of life in prison. The obvious answer in several cases is “yes.”

[William Terrell]

I never thought of capital punishment was meant to be a deterrent. It was meant to permanently remove dangerous predators (who have proved themselves to be by their own sociopathic actions) from the innocent and peaceful population, by the right of the state to protect the population, the same right an individual has to use deadly force to protect himself and his family.

[policestory]

That in itself is a deterrent

[William Terrell]

I agree, but a perpherial effect.