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This 4 page paper provides some evidence to show that the death penalty is a good deterrent. Both sides are discussed. Bibliography lists 8 sources.
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4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: RT13_SA914dp.rtf
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meaning, it should deter future crime. Yet, it is a difficult quandary. When it comes to the death penalty specifically, deterrence is hard to prove and oppositionists claim that
there is no deterrent effect, or at least it has not been proven. Zimring & Hawkins (1989) write: "Evidence regarding the marginal deterrent efficacy of capital punishment in relation to
murder is not imperfect merely because it is not definitive; it is worse than that. It is at the lower end of the spectrum of circumstantial evidence on those issues
where only comparisons between areas and over time are available" (p.183). There are studies to indicate that the death penalty works, but the evidence is often flimsy. Still, the lack
of evidence does not necessarily mean there is no deterrent effect. The theory of deterrence speculates that by implementing a severe punishment, such as death, criminals will be less
inclined to commit crimes that carry such a penalty. Yet, there is no definitive proof on this and according to Schwarzschild (2002) there may never be. The author writes: "Proving
that execution deters murder more than life imprisonment, or proving that it does not, may be practically impossible" (Schwarzschild, 2002, p. 9). In researching this subject it seems that studies
are scant at best. Also, there is a practical problem in researching the topic as murder is not a common crime. It is difficult to collect statistics on this topic
that are truly meaningful and so there is much criticism. Yet, there are those who claim that there is indeed a deterrent effect. Yang & Lester (2008) analyzed studies by
Ehrlich and claim that they have shown a deterrent effect to be plausible. Keckler (2006) claims that for some criminals, there will be a hesitation before a killing if in
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