The Death Penalty is not a Deterrent - Research Paper Example

? The Death Penalty is not a deterrent Introduction Capital punishment is still debated because the pros and cons won’t just stop and their arguments are as old as the issue itself. But there are studies strongly suggesting that the debate should have stopped long ago because the evidence has shown that there is no deterrent effect of capital punishment, and it is only a myth. The study of Michael Radelet and Traci Lacock conducted in 2008, a confirmation of a 1996 study of the same nature, used a sample of top criminologists who were asked if the death penalty had a deterrent effect using the empirical studies that had been conducted during their time. These criminologists confirmed the previous finding that there is no deterrent effect for capital punishment. Perceptions and attitudes of peoples towards the death penalty can change with increased knowledge. If there’s enough information campaign by people in government and those concerned, favourable opinion can be gained for the abolition of capital punishment. The European Union adopted its Charter of Fundamental Rights which states that everyone has the right to life and no one shall be condemned to the death penalty, or executed. This should be binding on all peoples and all states, big and small. But for the victim’s side, there is demand for justice or retribution. When someone in the family is a victim of a crime, such as when a daughter has been raped and murdered, the family demands justice. Rae states that there is an ‘imbalance created in the social order’. There is a demand for justice created by the imbalance and thus a demand for a restoration of the balance in society. While society must exercise power and all individuals must submit to that power, society must give everyone a chance. Killing does not solve social ills and it is uncivilized. 1.1 Definition Death penalty is a punishment instituted by society where a convicted criminal is punished and put to death; the crime committed is a capital offense. It is different from unauthorized form of killing, or killing committed for revenge or lynching. (Garland 70) Capital punishment or death penalty can be considered the strictest punishment for a grievous offense. The term grievous or capital offense varies in definition and commission in different countries. Capital crimes include treason, murder, manslaughter, rape, and in some countries, they include arson, counterfeiting, and theft. (Banner 5) 1.2 History of the death penalty Capital punishment is an integral part of American history. The first execution occurred in Jamestown in 1608, when Captain George Kendall was sentenced to death for spying for Spain. By the middle of the seventeenth century, around fifty people were executed. After a century, executions were done by the thousands. By the end of 1945, more than 17,000 people had been executed. (Allen and Clubb 9) Most ancient countries enforced capital punishment for serious offenses, but sometimes other offenses like blasphemy, adultery, or magic practice and witchcraft, were considered capital offense. English common law listed eight capital crimes, such as treason, petty treason, murder, larceny, robbery, burglary, rape, and arson. (Mandery 21) By the beginning of the eighteenth century, majority of the executed were African Americans or of African descent, with whites appearing to be a minority of those executed. 1.3 Ancient Laws Early laws on the death penalty can be found in the Ancient Laws of China. The Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon enforced the death penalty for 25 different crimes. But murder was excluded from these crimes. The Code followed the principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” and set measures to compensate for injuries to slaves, domesticated animals, and property. Thieves who did not have the ability to pay restitution were put to death. The first historically recorded death sentence was done in Egypt in the sixteenth century BC, and the offender, who was convicted of committing magic, was sentenced to take his own life. Another law, the Hittite Code, predominant in the fourteenth century BC, also included the death penalty. (Melusky and Pesto 8) In biblical times, Moses found so hard to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. He asked God to devise a plan to make the people follow him. The Mosaic Law used the principle of retribution in severe but proportionate punishment for capital crimes. The concept of retribution has been considered as legalized vengeance, but it is not an act of vengeance. In modern sentencing, there is what we call a sense of proportionality which is somewhat related with retribution. Ancient legal systems imposed severe punishments but not only on capital crimes. Other forms of punishment like torture, mutilation, and banishment from one’s native place were also used. (Scheb and Scheb II 229) Three world legal systems have been adopted in the course of time and these are the Roman, the Mohammedan and the Anglo-American. The Arabian conquerors adopted the Roman law of the eastern empire because their own law was ‘too crude and primitive’ to be imposed on their new conquests. The Mohammedan law adapted most principles and concepts of the Roman law of the Eastern Empire as it was adjusted to the political conditions of the Arab conquered lands. (Lobingier 3) The Islamic Law requires capital punishment for crimes termed hudud as described in the Qur’an and the sunnah. Classifying such acts as crime, according to the Muslim tradition, benefits society since it is upholding public interest and God’s law. The Qur’an is strict with sex crimes and prohibits sex outside of marriage. It strongly imposes punishment for sex outside of marriage, the same thing with murder or stealing. Those convicted of rape are punished with flogging or stoning. According to the Islamic law, four male eyewitnesses are required to convict a married person accused of committing adultery, or if the suspected individual may admit and confess of his sin. Islam does not permit same sex marriage. Some legal scholars have argued that a woman who becomes pregnant while her husband is away can be convicted of the crime. (Esposito 83) Britain influenced the colonies on matters of capital punishment. In the 10th century AD, Great Britain used hanging as a form of capital punishment. This was later modified with other methods such as burning at stake, hanging or beheading. In the 17th century, 222 crimes were punishable with death. Later on, this was reduced to 120 crimes. Capital punishment in the United States was influenced by Great Britain. The colonies continued to be influenced by Great Britain; an example of this is Hong Kong. Hong Kong vigorously executed capital offenders for as long as Britain had it. In the 1960s, Hong Kong stopped executions when England and Wales started to cease executing criminals, which was a prelude to Britain’s formally abolishing capital punishment. (Johnson and Zimring 368) Definition of deterrence Deterrence in capital punishment refers to its effect on punishment; general deterrence refers to the effect of capital punishment on certain capital offenses. There is no ‘special deterrent effect’, or the capital punishment’s effect in terms of crime averted, but there is an absolute incapacitative or preventive effect. (Zimring and Hawkins 170) Deterrence is a negative motivational influence or a communication that makes you afraid to try something. 2. Literature Review Statistics about homicide rates and execution rates Donahue and Wolfers (qtd. in Dills and Miron 10) argued that there is no evidence to show that the death penalty deters crime, as can be shown in Figure 1. It is shown here that in the 1990s, execution increased significantly while murder was down, but from the 1900s to the early 1960s executions and homicides were on the same direction. During the moratorium period, murder was down even though there was no execution. In the UK, homicides per capita were down for the past 40 years even though there was no execution. (Dills and Miron 11) Figure 1: Executions and homicide rate per 100,000, 1900-2005 SOURCE: Condensed from What Economists Know About Crime (Dills and Miron 38) Present figures indicate that the United States is enjoying a drop in crimes and this could be attributed to the deterrence factor of the prison system and not on the imposition of capital punishment. Police people are also proactive, targeting problems beforehand and finding solutions right away (Mach). This means crimes are down even without capital punishment. Capital Punishment versus Life Imprisonment The debate whether the death penalty is a deterrent to murder than life imprisonment has been the subject of a study by Michael Radelet and Traci Lacock who surveyed the world’s leading criminologists about their opinion on whether the empirical research supports the contention that the death penalty is a superior deterrent than life imprisonment. The findings showed that an overwhelming conclusion among the world’s criminologists state that the empirical research supports the contention that the death penalty has no deterrent effects. In 1996, Michael Radelet and Ronald Akers (qtd. in Radelet and Lacock 490) conducted research acquiring the opinion of leading American criminologists about the empirical research on deterrence and reached a conclusion that the death penalty never has been and will never be superior to life imprisonment as a deterrent to crime. The researchers Radelet and Lacock updated the 1996 study to assess if there was a change of beliefs among the world’s leading criminologists. The results indicated that only 10% or less believed that empirical research studies justified the death penalty. The results came out amidst widely publicized reports showing the deterrent effects of the death penalty. For example, in 2002, the Washington Post came out with an article titled Murderous Pardons? which told of econometrician’s research showing that for every execution, there are about 5-6 fewer homicides, and when there were three pardons in the death row, an additional 1-1.5 homicides were committed as a result of the pardon. Another work published by Emory University professors, and other similar studies, purported to show that each execution deterred about 17 to 18 homicides. An article published in the Wall Street Journal showed that in 1979 to 2004, each execution prevented about seventy-four murders during the following year. (Radelet and Lacock 490-491) In Michael Radelet and Traci Lacock’s 2008 study, they used a different sample of expert criminologists and replicated the same study conducted in 1996 to find if the opinions of the United States’ top criminologists have changed. One of the questions asked was if the death penalty deterred the commission of murder or if it lowered the murder rate. Only eight of the criminologists answered affirmatively, while 56 (84%) responded that it was not a deterrence. Conducting the research in a scientific manner, considering all probabilities and the researches in the past including those purporting to show that the death penalty deters future murders, Radelet and Lacock’s study concluded, with evidence, that the vast majority of the world’s top criminologists believed there was no deterrence for the death penalty and it was just a myth. The study further disproved other studies that the death penalty had ‘a marginal deterrent effect beyond that of long-term imprisonment’ (Radelet and Lacock 504). Cost of execution v. cost of imprisonment A death penalty case costs much higher than a non-death penalty case. A 2003 legislative audit was conducted in Kansas and found that the difference was about 70% more. The death penalty costs were calculated up to execution and the median was about $1.26 million, while the non-death penalty costs were calculated up to end of incarceration, and the median cost was $740,000. (“Amnesty International: Death Penalty Cost” para. 2) Another study on the cost of execution was conducted in Maryland. The death penalty has been imposed in Maryland since 1978 with five inmates already executed and five others still awaiting their time. The study, conducted by John Roman and colleagues, aimed to find out the costs of death penalty. It focused on homicide cases that occurred between 1978 and 1999. The results indicated that for an average capital-eligible case wherein the prosecutors did not seek death penalty, the cost was more than $1.1 million, plus the prison costs of $870,000 and adjudication costs of $250,000. But for a case that resulted in a death sentence, the cost would reach approximately $3 million, with prison costs of $1.3 million and adjudication cost of $1.7 million. The researchers further found out that there were 56 cases between 1978 and 1999, resulting in a death sentence which cost a total of $107.3 million. The cases that did not result in a death sentence, which numbered 106, cost $71 million. (Roman et al. 1) Homicide – crime of passion Most crimes, like murder considered heinous by many states, are considered crimes of passion because these are committed with emotions like anger, hatred, frustration; people committing it seem not to know what they are doing and the consequences of their actions. Murder and capital offenses are committed in moments when criminals do not have time to think that what they are about to commit is punishable by death. This erases the deterrent effect. Criminals do not research on statistics, or how many are on death row and how many have been killed. People who commit murder expect to come clean and get away with it. They act ‘under pressure, with lust, greed, fear, hatred, or under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or psychic pathology’ (Schwarzschild para. 4). Conclusion Since Supreme Court’s decision in Gregg in 1976, the United States has executed about 40 convicted criminals, the pace is fast, and the country can follow the footsteps of China, or the Soviet Union and Iran, in executing criminals on death row. (Schwarzschild para. 1) Capital punishment is cruel and is against the provision in the Eighth Amendment. Cruel is defined as ‘punishment that inflicts pain in a wanton and unnecessary manner, as well as punishment that is disproportionate to the crime committed’ (Rae 214). The death penalty makes the state act like God, or a totalitarian power when it decides who should live and who should die. Capital punishment is a violation of human dignity and human right. (Schwarzschild para. 2) Works Cited Allen, Howard, and J. Clubb. Race, Class, and the Death Penalty: Capital Punishment in American History. New York: State University of New York Press, 2008. Print. Amnesty International: Death Penalty Cost. n.d. Web. 10 November 2012. . Banner, Stuart. The Death Penalty: An American History. United States of America: First Harvard University Press, 2003. Print. Esposito, John. The Islamic World: Past and Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print. Garland, David. Peculiar Institution: America’s Death penalty in an Age of Abolition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print. Johnson, David and F. Zimring. The Next Frontier: National Development, Political Change, and the Death Penalty in Asia. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Lobingier, Charles Susner. The Evolution of the Roman Law: From Before the Twelve Tables to the Corpus. New York: Fred B. Rothman Publications, 1999. Print. Mach, Andrew 2012. FBI: Violent Crime Rates in the US Drop, Approach Historic Lows. Web. 10 November 2012. . Mandery, Evan. Capital Punishment in America: A Balanced Examination (Second Edition). London: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2012. Print. Melusky, Joseph, and K. Pesto. Capital Punishment: Historical Guide to Controversial Issues in America. California: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2011. Print. Rae, Scott. Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000. Print. Roman, John, Aaron Chalfin, Aaron Sundquist, Carly Knight and Askar Darmenov. 2008. The Cost of the Death Penalty in Maryland. Web. 10 November 2012. . Radelet, Michael and Traci Lacock. “Recent Developments: Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates?: The Views of Leading Criminologists.” The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, vol. 99, no. 2, 2009: 489-508. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 November 2012. Scheb, John and J. Scheb II. Criminal Procedure (Sixth Edition). California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012. Schwarzschild, Henry. “The Death Penalty: A Social and Moral Atrocity.” ABA Journal, The Lawyer’s Magazine. Academic Search Premier. Zimring, Franklin and G. Hawkins. Capital Punishment and the American Agenda. New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1986. Print. Read More