Deterrence and the Death Penalty

Introduction to the Issue 

One of the most controversial issues not only in the United States but also in different countries around the world has been on the subject of the death penalty. The effect of the death penalty has raised a severe platform for debate, in the United States, considering that majority of the people do not understand the expected impacts of this issue (Jongmook, 2016). The death penalty is one of the unusual punishments for capital offenses, which vary depending on the jurisdiction. Approximately 80% of the countries around the world have the death penalty as part of their constitutions regardless of the fact that majority of them do not engage in this type of punishment. Panzarella & Vona (2013) review the issue of the death penalty from a historical perspective arguing that traditional societies used the idea of banishment, which was somewhat similar to the death penalty, as it meant that one would live alone in the wilderness.

Most of the countries find themselves entangled in a debate on whether to adopt policies that would see the usage of the death penalty as a form of punishment for capital offenses. A Gallup Poll conducted in 2012 indicated that approximately 72% of Americans advocate for the death penalty as a form of punishment (Jongmook, 2016). However, one of the fundamental questions has been on the effectiveness of this mode of discipline in the deterrence of crime especially when trying to reduce the increasing number of capital offenses. Criminologists have been on the forefront in discussing this issue focusing on the ultimate impacts that it is having on the society taking into considering the question of deterrence towards crime.

Statement of Problem 

The death penalty remains a controversial issue when taking into consideration the position of different stakeholders especially in trying to evaluate its effectiveness in crime deterrence. The proponents of the death penalty argue that engaging in this type of punishment plays a central role towards ensuring that people understand the implications of their criminal behaviors. On the other hand, opponents of the issue argue that the death penalty goes against the fundamental human rights accorded to every individual regardless of his or her social position in the society, which is the right to life. Consequently, this creates a fundamental problem within the criminal justice system on the usage of the death penalty.

Purpose of the Study 

The purpose of this research study is to survey and evaluate the issue of the death penalty in a bid to understanding its effectiveness regarding its ability to deter crime. In other words, the research study seeks to address the question associated with the ability for the death penalty to discourage crimes including increased cases of homicides. The research study will attempt to evaluate expert opinion on the issue, as well as, attempt to provide relevant information on the effectiveness of the death penalty regarding its legal positioning.

The significance of the Study 

The importance of this study is that it seeks to evaluate the issue of the death penalty extensively as a way of determining whether states or countries ought to engage in the death penalty. The study will provide information on the ability for the death penalty to deter crime, especially when dealing with cases of homicides. Thus, this means that it will become much easier to use the information from this study when making decisions on whether to adopt the death penalty as a form of punishment. The research study is expected to add value to the debate on the death penalty, as it seeks to incorporate expert opinion on what they believe is the best approach in dealing with the issue.

Literature Review 

The idea of evaluating different sentiments on the issue of the death penalty poses a significant challenge considering that it creates the need for having to evaluate different positions on what people believe. The question of the death penalty focuses solely on the ethical positioning thinking that people must be willing to assess their moral understanding using the death penalty as a form of punishment for capital offenses. Additionally, it is essential to take note of the fact that majority of the opinion polls is publishing poll results on the issue of the death penalty lack that element of accuracy. Most of these polls only seek to understand whether people support the death penalty but do not offer an alternative to such punishments.

Durlauf, Fu, & Navarro (2013) argue on the issue of the death penalty from the perspective that the ultimate impacts of the death penalty tend to have the same outcome when compared to the idea of using life imprisonment for capital offenses. This is a position that has been disowned from a different perspective with some research studies supporting the belief that indeed the death penalty is a practical approach to the deterrence of crime. Charles & Durlauf (2013) argue that engagement in the death penalty creates some form of fear among members of the community, which, in turn, plays a central role towards ensuring that they avoid engaging in crimes that would be described as capital crimes. From that perspective, the death penalty is viewed as a solution that would help in reducing crimes that include robberies with violence, rape, and murders.

However, the position can be disowned by a review of the current crime rates in the United States explicitly focusing on states that uphold the death penalty. Although these states focus much of their attention on the idea of engaging in the death penalty as a platform for deterrence, that does not act as an issue of focus for members of the communities (as can be seen from figure 1). Durlauf, Fu, & Navarro (2013) argue that this arises from a situation where the majority of the people in the community do not have an understanding of the functioning of the criminal justice system, which creates a negative perception on their engagement in crime. An example can be reflected from the position of increased gang-related murders with more people joining these gangs. Most of the members of these gangs do not understand the possibility of them being exposed to the death penalty for such crimes regardless of the overall number of executions conducted within the state.

Manski & Pepper (2013), on the other hand, approach the issue of the death penalty from the perspective of the public and their understanding on its effectiveness in deterring the rise crime levels especially in ensuring that capital offenses reduce. From the results of the study, one of the key aspects to note is that only 46.3% of the respondents believe in the idea of the death penalty, thus, meaning that an overwhelming majority of the people think that this only seeks to expose human cruelty. The argument by Charles & Durlauf (2013) may support this position considering that dictates the need for having to seek out alternatives before deciding on the idea of the death penalty as a way of finding a solution to the debate.

Figure 1: Murder Rate between 1987 and 2015 

Kirchgässner (2011) expounds on the issue arguing that the death penalty, which has been in use in the United States since the 1960s, in some states (as indicated in figure 2), does not show any signs of being used regardless of the high number of executions conducted in the country. From this argument, the critical element of focus to understand is that the high number of performances tend to have limited outcomes for the public regarding reducing the number of capital offenses. Manski & Pepper (2013) argues that the reduction of capital offenses would only serve as an approach that seeks to ensure the people understand that their engagement in such crimes is having a wide array of impacts on the society.

Figure 2: Status of the Death Penalty 

The analysis of the states within the United States and their support of the death penalty indicates that over 80% of the rules have provisions for the death penalty with some of the states remaining in transition while others do not support the idea of the death penalty. Flanders (2013) argues that the decision to support the death penalty reflects wholly on the position that the death penalty seeks to introduce new policy framework expectations for the states considering that they must ensure that the engagement in the death penalty falls within the confines of the law. Panzarella & Vona (2013) argue that the critical point of corrections ought to be the rehabilitation of the offenders considering that it becomes much easier for these individuals to learn from their actions. Thus, this creates the need for having to reflect on the expectations of the death penalty regarding whether it is well positioned towards deterring crime explicitly focusing on capital offenses.

The issue of the death penalty may also be viewed from the perspective of cost, as this is an essential issue of consideration in determining its viability regarding usage when dealing with increasing crime rates. From this perspective, Kirchgässner (2011) argues that the amount of money that the United States government is spending to support the idea of the death penalty is much higher when compared to the amount of money it uses to help life imprisonment. Consequently, this reflects on the concept of the death penalty is economically unviable based on the issue of cost, which is essential to consider when determining the general outcomes of the problem. However, Durlauf, Fu, & Navarro (2012) argue that the government must also focus on its role in protecting its citizens from unsafe environments rather than only focusing on the economic viability of the death penalty, which would serve as a critical deterrent of crime.

The debate on the issue of cost has raised serious questions on the role of the government in not only ensuring that the approaches taken within the criminal justice system achieve expected effectiveness but also seeks to provide that it can support such programs. Durlauf, Fu, & Navarro (2012) raise the question on whether governments around the world are in a position to help their respective death penalty programs, as well as, working towards promoting reforms in the prison systems. In their bid to supporting the death penalty, governments ought to understand the implications that the programs would have on their economic positioning while taking into consideration the fact that the death penalty is an issue that requires in-depth discussions. The effect of focus in this question is on the overall viability of the death penalty while taking into consideration the economic expectations from different perspectives.

In a recent survey conducted by the polling firm, Peter D. Hart Research Associates, the question on whether to engage in the death penalty reflected on the issue from an ethical and moral perspective. Gius (2016) indicated on the item arguing that the ethical and moral expectation when dealing with matters of human life is that the society would be in a position to uphold and support the highest standards regarding overall positioning. The issue of the death penalty warrants scrutiny from an ethical and moral perspective while taking into account that this issue reflects on the lives of the offenders. Panzarella & Vona (2013) present an analysis of the effect of the death penalty from the perspective that it does not support any form of ethical or moral principle considering that it results in the death of the offenders without giving them a chance for reform. The critical element of focus in this debate is whether the death penalty, regardless of its expectation in crime deterrence, would act as a viable approach from which to define the expected ethical and moral standards of the society.

The issue of the death penalty can be viewed from different perspectives when dealing with the idea of ethics whereby the first step is to determine whether the issue of human rights can support the problem. Gius (2016) argues that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights indicates that the Right to Life is one of the fundamental rights and freedoms that governments and societies must be willing to uphold and protect. From that view, it is evident that the idea of engaging in the death penalty only seeks to expose countries to a violation of this expectation considering that it becomes much harder for the countries involved to support their position in the issue. Manski & Pepper (2013) argue that the Right to Life is fundamental freedom accorded to offenders regardless of their offenses, thus, meaning that one must be willing to engage in an in-depth reflection of the death penalty to determine its ethical and moral positioning.

From a moral perspective, the issue of the death penalty becomes a challenge considering that it reflects on two key positions, which are lives of the offenders and crime deterrence. Panzarella & Vona (2013) indicate on the idea of corrections from the perspective that it seeks to ensure that offenders understand their mistakes, which would reduce the risk of reoffending. That means that when engaging in a debate on the moral standing of the death penalty, it becomes somewhat challenging to determine its reputation based on the fact that societies must protect lives. Manski & Pepper (2013) build on the understanding of the death penalty from the perspective that the death penalty is one of the most viable tools that can be used in the criminal justice system as part of punishing offenders.

Falco & Freiburger (2011) indicate that the idea of using the death penalty may be of values towards ensuring that people understand the general implications of their actions regarding their exposure to the death penalty. That means that more people would find it hard when intending to engaging a crime considering that the death penalty would be an option if these individuals are arrested and convicted of the crimes. Falco & Freiburger (2011) also highlight the value of ensuring that the death penalty is evaluated with the aim of providing that the methods of execution selected protect the interests of the convicts regarding reducing their exposure to pain. In overall, the issue of the death penalty raises serious concern among stakeholders considering that it becomes hard to determine whether the death penalty is a useful tool that the criminal justice system may adopt as part of deterring crime.

Research Question and Hypotheses 

Research Question 

The research question that seeks to govern this research study is:

Is the death penalty a useful tool in the criminal justice system to help in the deterrence of crime in the society? 

The research question seeks to examine and evaluate the death penalty from the perspective of its ability to deter crime within the society considering that this would be of value towards determining the global positioning. When reviewing this question, one of the key aspects to note is that the criminal justice system may have the option of using the death penalty as a tool in crime deterrence. However, this would depend wholly on the effectiveness of the death penalty in reducing the overall number of crimes occurring within a given social environment.

Hypotheses 

The hypotheses of this research study are:

The death penalty does not offer any adequate avenues for deterrence of crime, as it only seeks to expose criminal offenders to inhuman treatment based on the mode of execution selected. 

The death penalty is not linked to crime deterrence considering that it does not influence other people in the society against their engagement in crime. 

In this hypothesis, the researcher seeks to disown the idea of the death penalty from the perspective that the death penalty does not support the ethical or moral expectations and standards of the society. Instead, this only serves as a tool from which to expose criminal offenders to inhuman treatment based on the mode of execution selected.

Research Methodology 

Definition of Terms 

The research study focuses on the evaluation of expert opinion on the issue of the death penalty and its ability to deter crime within a given social platform. Thus, this creates the need for having to define the term "expert." One definition that can be effective in understands the concept of the term "expert" is scholars, who have engaged in high-quality scholarly studies focusing on the issue of the death penalty. On the other hand, this term can be defined as stakeholders in the criminal justice systems that seek to understand the general impacts of issues within criminology. In this case, the problem in focus for the stakeholders to evaluate is that of the death penalty, which is viewed as one of the fundamental issues that define the effectiveness of the criminal justice system.

Sample 

During the selection of the sample for the study, the researcher focused on the criterion presented above in which the example must have an in-depth understanding of the issue of the death penalty. From that perspective, it became a bit challenging for the researcher to find participants for the study, who would meet this particular criterion. The researcher focused on three specific criminal justice organizations operating within the United States as part of recruiting the participants for the study. These organizations were the American Society of Criminology, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, as well as, the Law and Society Association. In a bid to understanding the positions from these organizations, the researcher focused on using their respective presidents to find relevant participants with the expected knowledge of the criminal justice system. Ultimately, the researcher was able to select a total of 71 participants from the three criminal justice organizations. The composition of the participants from the three organizations was somewhat balanced, as the researcher believed that this would be of value towards building the overall effectiveness of the study.

Research Method 

In this case, the researcher sought to engage the participants from the criminal justice organizations identified, thus, creating the need for having to find a research method that would help towards the achievement of the set-out effectiveness. The research method selected for this study was survey method where the researcher was able to engage the participants through the usage of a questionnaire from where the participants were expected to present their responses to a set of questions. The selection of the survey as the central data collection tool helped towards building on the anticipated understanding regarding ensuring that the participants would be able to present their responses, which would be used as part of the study.

Data Analysis 

Based on the magnitude of information that the researcher was able to gather from the participants, the proposed data analysis plan focused on using SPSS software, which would be able to calibrate the data depending on the responses from the participants. Usage of the SPSS software would be sufficient considering that it creates an avenue from which to define the overall quality of the data collected, as well as, ensure that the data obtained from the study is group depending on the information given. The critical expectation for the researcher was to find a familiar pattern in the data collected, as this would help towards supporting or disowning the position indicated by the hypothesis.

Results 

Based on the survey results, one of the key aspects to take note of is that the death sentence remained as a severe issue of discussion as a way of ensuring that societies understand the implications of their adoption of such policies. The first question posed during the survey was one whether the participants believe that the death penalty is significant regarding deterring crime focusing solely on the murder rate in the United States. According to the responses given, approximately 87.5% of the participants in the research study believe that the adoption of the death penalty does not have any viable impacts on the crime rate in the country. The participants indicate that usage of the death penalty does not create any significant difference in the way offenders behave, thus, suggesting that it is not as effective as may be expected.

On the second question, focusing on whether the abolishing of the death penalty would have any notable impacts on the crime rates, the researcher noted a significant disparity in the way the participants presented their position. The discrepancy arises from the fact that majority of the participants, 56%, supported the position that the abolishment of the death penalty would mean that the crime rates would increase. The remaining 44% of the participants indicated that the abolition of the death penalty is not anticipated to have any lasting impacts on the crime rates in the country. The researcher noted that some of the participants believed in the idea of the death penalty as being a safeguard towards reducing crime rates but did not indicate this is the previous question.

The study also sought to understand whether the participants believed in the fact that the states, which have adopted the death penalty, tend to have lower murder rates when compared to the countries that do not support the idea of the death sentence. From the analysis of the responses given, 79.6% of the participants indicated that they do not believe that this was an accurate position when compared to 13.4% would suggest that the statement was correct. The remaining number of participants indicated that they do not know if the murder rates in the states with the death penalty are lower than those without. The responses suggest the majority of these experts disown the idea of using the death penalty as part of ensuring that societies work towards reducing the possibility of increased murder rates.

On the other hand, approximately 78.7% of the participants involved in the study indicated that they do not believe in the fact that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. As part of a follow-up question, 81.3% of the participants indicated that the idea of the death penalty only seeks to create an inhumane avenue from which to treat offenders due to their engagement in crime. That means that most of the participants believe in the fact that the death penalty does not have any value regarding ensuring that people reduce their desire to engage in crime. Instead, the death penalty can only be viewed from the perspective that this issue seeks to create some form of reduced understanding on what is expected when ensuring that the society works towards protecting the interests of the public.

Lastly, approximately 86.7% of the participants involved in the study indicated that they believe in the fact that majority of the policymakers, who are politicians, only support the idea of the death penalty as a way of showing that they are tough on crime. However, that does not help the general position on the fact that indeed that they are tough on crime. Instead, the participants believe it creates a platform from which members of the public would view them as lacking that element of compassion on others. Flanders (2013) supports the position that majority of the politicians use the death penalty as a tool allowing them to gain popularity within the society regardless of the fact that this particular issue exposes millions of people to the risk of death due to the executions.

Policy Implications 

The main policy implication of the findings from this study, which focuses on expert opinion, is that it will result in a situation where policymakers would change their understanding of the issue in question, the death penalty. Politicians would gain a belief that the adoption of the death penalty is unethical and immoral considering that it goes against the fundamental right to life. From that perspective, it would be essential for the policymakers to work towards adopting new policy frameworks that would see the dissolution of the death penalty. Additionally, it would also be of value for the politicians to come up with alternative methods of punishment for the offenders accused of capital offenses. The long-term effect of this is that it will seek to change the way people perceive the issue of the death penalty, which is essential towards creating a shift in their mentality.

References

Charles, K. K., & Durlauf, S. N. (2013). Pitfalls in the use of time series methods to study deterrence and capital punishment. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 29 (1), 45-66.

Durlauf, S. N., Fu, C., & Navarro, S. (2012). Assumptions matter: Model uncertainty and the deterrent effect of capital punishment. American Economic Review, 102 (3), 487-92.

Durlauf, S. N., Fu, C., & Navarro, S. (2013). Capital punishment and deterrence: understanding different results. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 29 (1), 103-121.

Falco, D. L., & Freiburger, T. L. (2011). Public opinion and the death penalty: A qualitative approach. The Qualitative Report, 16 (3), 830-847.

Flanders, C. (2013). The Case Against the Case Against the Death Penalty. New Criminal Law Review: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal, 16 (4), 595-620.

Gius, M. (2016). The impact of the death penalty and executions on state-level murder rates: 1980–2011. Applied Economics Letters, 23 (3), 199-201.

Jongmook, C. H. O. E. (2016). Another Look at the Deterrent Effect of Death Penalty. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics, 1 (1), 12-15.

Kirchgässner, G. (2011). Econometric estimates of deterrence of the death penalty: Facts or ideology?. Kyklos, 64 (3), 448-478.

Manski, C. F., & Pepper, J. V. (2013). Deterrence and the death penalty: Partial identification analysis using repeated cross-sections. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 29 (1), 123-141.

Manski, C. F., & Pepper, J. V. (2013). Deterrence and the death penalty: Partial identification analysis using repeated cross-sections. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 29 (1), 123-141.

Panzarella, R., & Vona, D. (2013).  Criminal Justice Masterworks: A History of Ideas about Crime, Law, Police, and Corrections . New York, NY: Carolina Academic Press.