NCJ Number
110712
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 1 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1986) Pages: 422-437
Date Published
1986
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examines the effect of executions on homicides in Florida over a 55-year period.
Abstract
Florida has executed more persons since 1930 than all but five States and currently has more people on death row than any other State. Florida has also executed more people than any other State since the U.S. Supreme Court lifted its ban on executions in 1976. The time-series nature of the data made it possible to address the deterrence issue from several perspectives. First, a graph was created for the murder and nonnegligent rates and executions in Florida for 1930-84. Next, the study compared the mean homicide rates for three different eras that correspond to the death penalty experience in Florida. The third part of the analysis compared the mean homicide rate for what are termed adjacent threat and abolition years. Abolition years include 1972-76, when the death penalty had been abolished by the Supreme Court. The threat era includes years preceding and following the abolition years. This analysis is restricted to 1968-84. A correlation matrix and regressions were developed, and a generalized least squares approach was used to correct for autocorrelation in the time-series. Both lagged and nonlagged models specified more accurately the effect of executions on the dependent variable. Findings show no support for the deterrence hypothesis. 1 figures, 3 tables, 48-item bibliography.