Watch: Myth #2 - The death penalty reduces crime

MYTH

The death penalty acts as a deterrent to potential criminals

FACT

The death penalty does not deter crime. It stimulates it.

1. The death penalty does not deter crime

• A new, comprehensive study states that there is absolutely no evidence that the death penalty deters crime. A panel at the National Research Counsel claims that no research about capital punishment to date can be trusted. Neither has it been investigated in the past 35 years whether the death penalty deters crime more than other punishments (e.g. life in prison). 

US states practicing capital punishment have murder rates at least 48% higher than the states with no death penalty, and studies in the US have consistently shown that the death penalty is not a deterrent.

88% of criminologists do not believe the death penalty is an effective deterrent (Do executions lower homicide rates? The views of leading criminologists, a study by Professor Michael Radelet and Traci Lacock). A recent poll found that only 1 in 100 American police chiefs feel the death penalty has a serious impact on crime.

“I am not convinced that capital punishment, in and of itself, is a deterrent to crime because most people do not think about the death penalty before they commit a violent or capital crime." -Willie L.Williams, Police Chief, Los Angeles, CA

•  People do not consider the consequences of their actions at the time they commit murder.

People who commit murders either believe they will not be caught, are acting in a moment of a blinding anger or passion, or are substance abusers who murder impulsively. Furthermore, because the death penalty is discretionary, a defendant could not know in advance whether he would be sentenced to life or death.

2. The death penalty stimulates crime.

In the US, research shows that homicide actually increases on either side of an execution. Social scientists refer to this as the "brutalization effect":

• Executions desensitize the public to the immorality of killing, increasing the probability that some people will be motivated to kill; 
• The state legitimizes the notion that vengeance for past misdeeds is acceptable;
• Executions also have an "imitation effect" in which people follow the state's example.  If people feel the government can kill its enemies, they believe they can too (Bowers and Pierce, 1980; King, 1978, Forst. 1983).

Ultimately, the death penalty teaches our children that killing is an acceptable way to deal with problems.

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