Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Polk: Capitol Punishment (Death Penalty)
When I was reading our first article in the book Contemporary Moral Issues by Lawrence H. Hinman, I noticed one argument that I found surprising. In the introduction, the section labeled The Empirical Findings said something that kind of shocked me. It said that the death penalty deterred crime and studies have proved it. Some studies suggest that it saves between 7-8 lives a year. Other studies show that states with the death penalty have less capitol offenses than the ones that do; North and South Dakota are perfect examples. I was pretty skeptical about this argument. In my opinion, the last thing on a murderers mind is ohh I might get the death penalty so I wont do this. When you murder someone, I believe most criminals are assuming that they will escape and have no consequences. Who would murder if they knew it for sure meant life in prison or the death penalty? I am very interested to do more research about what studies uncovered this info. While I am skeptical, I am certainly open to all arguments.
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I'm very on the fence about the death penalty. I agree with you though, I don't think the death penalty deters crime, it probably isn't even on the criminal's mind. I think the death penalty is more to give the victim and their family peace of mind, knowing that the perpetrator isn't able to commit the crime again. Also, in Louisiana, both Baton Rouge and New Orleans are rated in the top ten most dangerous metropolitan areas in the US, and we do have the death penalty, so how can they say that crime is really deterred? Just something to think about!
ReplyDeleteMany studies have been done, and the results have been mixed. The deterrence argument would seem to make sense: if you know there's a speed trap in the next block, you slow down, right? But Louisiana is one of the top states in executing the death sentence (Florida, California and Texas are others)and yet New Orleans and Baton Rouge have among the highest murder rates per capita in the country. Deacon deGravelles
ReplyDeleteI never knew that about the studies done. That is interesting, I have never been sure how I feel about the death penalty. I feel like most people can be changed and sometimes people make horrible mistakes. Also we spend a lot of money on the poisons used to kill people on death row. Then again I feel the death penalty does scare a lot of people from doing some things. I really can't decide
ReplyDeleteGood questions raised, Gillon. One of the problems with studying deterrence is there are so many variables and each state has slightly different laws and many of the tests have been set up differently. Some studies show deterrence works. Others show the opposite. Also, it costs a lot more to house death row inmates than regular inmates.
ReplyDeleteThis really shocks me, too. Originally, I believe that there shouldn't be a death penalty because a person can't fully understand his/her crime if they are dead. I think they should live their life in prison and suffer instead of being freed by death. But after reading this, it really changes my perspective. I had no idea that the death penalty really scared people out of committing crimes. I was like you, I thought surely the death sentence is the last thing going through a murder's mind.
ReplyDeletePolk, I most certainly agree with you! However I am super ambiguous when it comes down to this issue. It's hard to not sympathize with the victim and understand how they would want closure. However after learning so much about those on death rowe through Chaplin Charlie's classes it's hard to not side with the prisoners and those who committed such horrible crimes because I do think people can change! When it comes down to it though, I never though of the death penalty as a threat and a way to stop people from committing murders.
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