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Related Experiment Videos

Executions as a deterrent to homicide.

D Lester1

  • 1Psychology Program, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona 08240-0195, USA.

Perceptual and Motor Skills
|November 7, 2000
PubMed
Summary

Homicide rates decreased more often following years without executions, not after years with executions. This suggests capital punishment does not deter crime, contrary to common belief.

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Area of Science:

  • Criminology
  • Sociology
  • Law

Background:

  • The death penalty's deterrent effect on crime remains a contentious issue in criminal justice research.
  • Previous studies have yielded conflicting results regarding the relationship between capital punishment and homicide rates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between state-sanctioned executions and subsequent homicide rates in the United States.
  • To determine if capital punishment exhibits a deterrent effect on violent crime.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of state-level homicide data from 1977 to 1992.
  • Comparison of homicide trends in years following execution years versus years with no executions.

Main Results:

  • Homicide numbers more frequently decreased after years with no executions.
  • Homicide numbers did not consistently decrease after years with one or more executions.
  • The observed pattern indicates an inverse relationship, contradicting the deterrence hypothesis.

Conclusions:

  • The study's findings do not support the claim that capital punishment deters homicide.
  • The data suggest that the presence or absence of executions does not correlate with a decrease in homicide rates in the studied period.

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