NCJ Number
147895
Journal
International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice Volume: 17 Issue: 1/2 Dated: (Spring/Fall 1993) Pages: 219-227
Date Published
1993
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article reexamines the bases for widespread support for capital punishment in the United States.
Abstract
Among developed democracies, only the United States and Japan have retained the practice of the death penalty, and far fewer people are executed in Japan. Likewise, the United States stands out among other developed countries for its high murder rate and other peculiar social ills. It can be argued that the death penalty not only serves to gratify a need for retribution and for reassurance that the system of social order is maintained but also functions as imitative magic in attempting to rid American society of its social problems and cultural incongruities. Magical belief in the deterrence value of the death penalty is illustrated with native testimony. Endnotes, references