[Crime and Punishment]

The Death Penalty Deterence Myth.

As one quickie note to the post below, this is an interesting stat. Among the states that have no death penalty, the murder rate over the past ten years has averaged 3.25 per 100,000 people. In the top five executing states (Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Florida), the rate is almost exactly double--6.46.

I've seen some studies comparing death penalty states with non-death penalty states, but this misstates the case slightly, because of the states with a death penalty on the books, most do few or no excuting. (My state, Oregon, has the law but has only used it twice.) But if you look at the top five states, you find that they have executed nearly-two thirds all criminals executed in the US--654 of 1000. (The ten states with the law on the books that have used it least frequently have used it only 5 times--if my math is correct.)

So deterence is, even by the most charitable charactarization, hogwash. I wouldn't argue that the death penalty causes the murder rate to rise. Rather, I suspect it's a reflection of violent cultures, at least in the states. You like killin', you probably like the death penalty.

Incidentally, the national average for the murder rate over the past ten years is 6.23.