Should the U.S. Abolish the Death Penalty?

Should the U.S. Abolish the Death Penalty?

The death penalty has provoked heated discussion since biblical times, and today the debate remains as controversial as ever. Is such a sentence ever justified? Capital punishment is an intensely emotional topic for everyone involved because it sits at the intersection of life, death and the very definition of the word 'justice.'

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Josh Marquis

Deterrent Undeniable

Joshua Marquis

District Attorney, Media Commentator

Do you feel safe in downtown Detroit? You shouldn't be.

Beyond the obvious specific deterrent of executing a killer so he can't kill again, the most recent studies (since 2000) come from a broad base of economists and non-idealogical scientists. Their studies http://www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/DPDeterrence.htm  include authors who personally oppose capital punishment but cannot deny the findings of their research.

Citing a high mirder rate in Texas makes as little sense as citing Michigan or the District of Columbia - both places with much higher than average murder rate - as examples of how.

Comparing the United States with otther countries is equally pointless. There are very stable countries like Switzerland or Japan with low murder rates (one has the death penalty, the other not) or point to countries like Brazil with murder rates much worse than the United States.

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