NCJ Number
79613
Journal
Criminal Justice Abstracts Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1981) Pages: 426-447
Date Published
1981
Length
22 pages
Annotation
Empirical evidence dealing with the deterrent effect and discriminatory application of capital punishment in the United States is presented and implications discussed.
Abstract
Although the evidence from long-term studies of capital punishment and deterrence is generally opposed to hypotheses that the statutory availability of use of the death penalty in a given jurisdiction will reduce the number of homicides committed in that jurisdiction, this cannot be regarded as proof that deterrence did not occur, since events that did not happen are not measureable. The National Academy of Sciences, in its evaluation of research on deterrence and capital punishment noted that even the methdologically sophisticated studies of the past decade have been flawed by weakness in data and methodology. Further, the evaluation concludes that even the most rigorous studies are not likely to provide results that will or should have much influence on policymakers. Still, the numerous problems involved in using deterrence as a justification for capital punishment and the lack of evidence that threat or the use of the death penalty has ever reduced homicide makes deterrence an improper basis for permitting execution. A study of the use of the death penalty indicates that deterrence philosophy has little to do with capital punishment's practical application. Its clearly discriminatory use against blacks, particularly those who have killed whites, shows it to be a tool for expressing extreme fear or hatred of a particular racial group. There is no indication that post-Furman uses of capital punishment have changed their discriminatory nature. For part 1 of this discussion of capital punishment, see NCJ 79612.