Does The Death Penalty Deter Murderers?

[Beiruty]

Quick execution of the convicted murder is just application of justice. If punishment of crminals is not a deterent why the crimnals are sent to jail for lengthy sentences?

[WildBill]

Quick execution of the convicted murder is just application of justice. If punishment of crminals is not a deterent why the crimnals are sent to jail for lengthy sentences?

What are you going to do, give them a medal? You put criminals in jail to keep them off the streets and committing more crimes.

[Texas Dan Mosby]

There will always be a segment of the criminal populous that "shops" the law to their advantage. This segment of the population will limit their criminal conduct so that they are not susceptible to punishment they consider too harsh should they be caught, such as the death penalty. This is why some criminals do not use weapons, and only use "less than lethal" force at the scene of their crimes, despite the fact that they may increase their chances of failure or apprehension by not using extreme or lethal violence.

When it comes down to it, behavior is determined by either positive or negative consequences, and they are relative to each individual. Laws and legal punishment are societies version of a negative consequence associated with unwanted behaviors, and for some, that is enough to deter unwanted behaviors. For others....not so much.

There will always be a segment of the population that has proven to be a direct threat to fellow citizens, and IMO, they should be destroyed, so they no longer pose a threat, or burden, to law abiding society.

[Beiruty]

Quick execution of the convicted murder is just application of justice. If punishment of crminals is not a deterent why the crimnals are sent to jail for lengthy sentences?

To keep them off the streets?

if jail is to keep dangerous criminals off the street than any violent criminals should get an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole or otherwise how do ypu protect the inocent victimis when those crminals are released. Not only the victim suffered and lost his life, but his family also suffeted and would still suffer their loss. It is justice if the killer and kin suffeted equally the same. I know many would cry Forgiveness but does it bring justice?

[WildBill]

Quick execution of the convicted murder is just application of justice. If punishment of crminals is not a deterent why the crimnals are sent to jail for lengthy sentences?

To keep them off the streets?

if jail is to keep dangerous criminals off the street than any violent criminals should get an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole or otherwise how do ypu protect the inocent victimis when those crminals are released. Not only the victim suffered and lost his life, but his family also suffeted and would still suffer their loss. It is justice if the killer and kin suffeted equally the same. I know many would cry Forgiveness but does it bring justice?

Then why not just execute them all?

[Beiruty]

Yes, execute all convicted murderers. And quickly.

[03Lightningrocks]

I don't believe the death penalty is a deterrent because I believe most murderers either think they won't get caught or don't think about the penalties involved at the time of the murder. The death penalty is a form of revenge carried out by society. Having the death penalty helps us all feel a false sense of security about being murdered. I also believe the death penalty is far less punishment than life behind bars in a 4x8 cell and a cute spouse named Buck. Then there is the serious issue of putting innocent people to death. It is hard to take that back.

I am not a pacifist either. I would do something similar to what Jim posted if someone murdered one of my loved ones.

[Dragonfighter]

IMHO, we are posing the argument incorrectly.

Prisons were not designed to be rehabilitative but punitive, removing the criminal from society. The addition of rehabilitation programs, addiction treatment programs, educational assistance may all be beneficial but that was not the original intent.

In like manner, the death penalty was not designed as a deterrent. When God instituted the death penalty it was to "...purge the evil from among you." The act of imprisoning those convicted of capitol crime "for life" not only burdens society with sustaining one who destroyed another life while that family suffers, but allows them to continually spew their rhetoric and in some cases develop followers and supporters.

The death penalty, properly executed (sorry couldn't resist), purges evil. Any side effect of deterrence, recidivism, etc. is just a bonus.

[anygunanywhere]

IMHO, we are posing the argument incorrectly.

Prisons were not designed to be rehabilitative but punitive, removing the criminal from society. The addition of rehabilitation programs, addiction treatment programs, educational assistance may all be beneficial but that was not the original intent.

In like manner, the death penalty was not designed as a deterrent. When God instituted the death penalty it was to "...purge the evil from among you." The act of imprisoning those convicted of capitol crime "for life" not only burdens society with sustaining one who destroyed another life while that family suffers, but allows them to continually spew their rhetoric and in some cases develop followers and supporters.

The death penalty, properly executed (sorry couldn't resist), purges evil. Any side effect of deterrence, recidivism, etc. is just a bonus.

The winner.

Anygunanywhere

[03Lightningrocks]

Sorry... I had to.

[Tamie]

When it's used in a timely way, it does deter murderers. However, it's much less effective when used after years or decades of free room and board and cable TV.

[RPB]

I could go into an entire semester long philosophy course of "What is Law" and show that it is the surety or likelihood of a consequence, rather than the severity of the consequence which deters. (you SEE the Policeman with a radar gun and KNOW you'll be caught, versus an old deserted faded sign on a deserted farm to market road "Construction zone fines double"

But, I won't.
--------------------------
Question: Does The Death Penalty Deter Murderers?
Answer: Not before being caught, and then Yes, but only if caught and then only the next one he'd commit would be prevented ... so, yes, just once, but that one next time could be a mass murder so just once for many, and if there was no death penalty and they kept getting out, then "no death penalty deters nothing".


In conclusion
If "no death penalty deters nothing"
and
Death Penalty, when used, deters commission of a murder by a dead criminal ...
then dead criminals won't kill again ... or something like that...

[RPB]

When it's used in a timely way, it does deter murderers. However, it's much less effective when used after years or decades of free room and board and cable TV.

The guy who murdered my cousin and his wife with a rocking chair,October 17, 1986, the fine people of California have supported 25 years on death row. He wrote a good book and was/is a anti-death penalty poster child ... I think an appeal is still pending for him murdering my cousins in the 1980s.

I hope his medical and dental benefits are good enough and that he likes the free cuisine. His retirement plan paid off more than he paid into it.
http://articles.latimes.com/1998/mar/12/news/mn-28210" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-cain-31098" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/sho ... -Death-Row" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Docket:
http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-cain-31098" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Apr 30 2007 Related habeas corpus petition filed (post-judgment)
No. S152288

Listing of California Death Row Inmates « on: May 23, 2009
Tracy Dearl Cain
Convicted and sentenced to Death in 1988 for fatally bludgeoning his neighbors, William and Modena Galloway.
Cain ran out of money while having a cocaine party and broke into their Oxnard home, where William Galloway, 63, was known to keep large sums of cash. Cain beat the couple to death with a rocking chair and took their money.

(He kept his social security disability $ in cash)

2011 status: Automatic appeal from a judgment of death.

========================

Want to buy his book?
http://ccadp.org/tracycain.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
'Memories From The Dust'
An Autobiographical Excerpt - By Tracy Cain
http://ccadp.org/tracycain-memories.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Send Comments:

Tracy Cain, D-91800
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, California 94974


CHECK BACK SOON FOR MORE OF TRACY CAIN'S WRITINGS

[baldeagle]

Then there is the serious issue of putting innocent people to death. It is hard to take that back.

I always wonder, when people bring this up, do they think that keeping an innocent person in jail for the rest of their life is less serious than putting them to death? Personally, if I was convicted of a crime serious enough to warrant the death penalty, I would prefer death to life in prison, even though I was innocent.

If we are putting innocent people to death, then there is something wrong with the system that convicted them to begin with, not with the punishment for the crime. What do we tell the guy that's innocent and spends his life in jail anyway? Sorry? We screwed up? If the system is broken, fix the system. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the punishment, except that, in some people's minds, life in prison for an innocent person is somehow less onerous than an execution.

I still contend that capital punishment is a deterrent for those that are sentenced to die (if the sentence is carried out.) At least they will never kill again. Then we can start working on catching the murderers that are still on the loose.

[seamusTX]

I always wonder, when people bring this up, do they think that keeping an innocent person in jail for the rest of their life is less serious than putting them to death?

I think a wrongful sentence of life in prison is less serious than death.

It is blindingly obvious that a wrongful execution cannot be corrected or remedied.

A person who is in prison (whether rightly or wrongly convicted) can make something out of his life. Even David Berkowitz, the admitted "Son of Sam" serial killer, has done so.

If the prisoner is found to be wrongly convicted, he can be freed and given some monetary compensation. If he is a decent person, he can get on with life.

Simply writing off wrongful convictions and executions erodes respect for the law.

The question of this thread is whether the death penalty is a deterrent, not whether it is just. With respect to that question, failures that erode respect for the law also damage whatever deterrent effect might exist. Many criminals already look at capture and conviction as a sort of lottery, and they win more often than not. As I said recently, murder has better odds than roulette.

- Jim