Eckstein 1

James Eckstein

Ms. Oberg

English 11

11 October 2016

The Death Penalty Doesnt Deter Crime

884 American inmates have been executed since 1999. The rate that these executions are

being carried out has been declining as support of capital punishment wanes. Even states with the

largest support of the death penalty are beginning to reconsider its validity. Costing millions of

dollars per execution and being morally questionable in the eyes of many, capital punishment is

only holding on because its seen as a serious deterrent to crime. However, upon further

investigation, it becomes apparent that capital punishment does little to nothing to deter crime.

National statistics show no correlation between the availability of the death penalty and crime

rates, and the consensus among criminologists is that capital punishment doesnt discourage

criminals.

Many think that the capital punishment reduces violent crime, the fear of death forces

individuals to reconsider future actions, but in practice the death penalty doesnt show any signs

of lowering crime rates. When researchers compared the two major Asian territories Singapore,

where capital punishment is common and brutal, and Hong Kong, where capital punishment has

been abolished, they found that the crime rates from 1967 to 2007 were nearly identical between

the two states (Chan). If the effects were there, they werent noticeable. It could be argued that

this situation may not apply to the United States, but when crime rates between 1960 and 2000

were gathered and compared against states that had abolished capital punishment verses ones

that hadnt, the data once again appears inconclusive if not implying that states without the death
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penalty had less crime (Ehrenfreund). Though it may not be proven that executions dont in some

way lessen crime, we certainly cant conclude that they do. Even if executions do in some way

lessen crime, is it a big enough deference for America to justify spending billions of dollars on a

system that has proven to be inaccurate and racially biased in the past?

It isnt a crime if you dont get caught is an old heavily overused saying meaning if

someone commits a crime and then arent found or proved to be guilty, they will never have to

accept the consequences assigned by law. This is widely believed, among criminologists, to be

one of the primary reasons why capital punishment doesnt deter crime. When someone plans to

commit a crime, they generally dont plan to be caught at all (Nagin). If the perpetrator of a

crime does not give any thought to the possible punishments they may face if they were to be

caught, the availability of the death penalty really doesnt matter.

Foresight is also required for the penalty of a crime to matter. This means capital

punishment really wont change the outcome of an overly heated argument or a crime committed

by someone who is mentally unstable or on some kind of substance. As it turns out, a large

proportion of violent crimes that take place are directly related to a group of people who arent in

a condition to properly weigh the outcomes of an action (American Civil Liberties Union). Many

homicides also come from robberies that go wrong: criminals with no intension of killing

accidentally murdering someone due to a complication with their plan (Ehrenfreund). Situations

like that would be better avoided by transferring the money spent on the death penalty to police

departments, welfare plans or projects for expanding our job market; making petty crime less

appealing.

Though we may not have conclusive evidence that the death penalty does not deter crime,

we have no reason to believe it is. Statistically, capital punishment acts as a miniscule deterrence,
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if at all. Greater punishment wont do much to stop an individual who does not plan to be caught.

The idea that foresight and judgment will stop crime simply doesnt apply to many of the

situations involving violent crime, as many of them happen spontaneously or are conceived by a

sick mind.

Works Cited

@ACLU. "Mental Illness and the Death Penalty in North Carolina 2007." American Civil

Liberties Union. N.p., May-June 2007. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Ehrenfreund, Max. "Theres Still No Evidence That Executions Deter Criminals." Washington

Post. The Washington Post, 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"Executions by Year." DPIC. Death Penalty Information Center, 5 Oct. 2016. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.