Texas inmate wants to tell a joke at his execution

[Robor007 0]

Whether or not you think its unfair, the DP is not a deterrent.

Sure it is. It's a deterrent to repeat offenses.

[dalegg 143]

While admittedly statistics can be distorted to fit pre-fabricated conclusions, in this case I think the lack of “conclusive” evidence would tend to support the one interpretation (i.e. no deterrent) over the other (real, substantive deterrent). You even hinted as much in your when you said:

How do you determine whether or not the death penalty is affective if it is hardly even used? I wonder if the people who commit the murders even know whether or not there is a death penalty in their state.

What we have here is a consensus, albeit from a number of different angles, that support a specific interpretation. I'm also more inclined to believe someone who has actually done some sort of research on the subject (incidentally - reputable academics who do this kind of work openly cite the flaws of their methodology) rather than a few disparate quotes by politicians.

The question of whether the death penalty is generally a deterrant isn't something that can be realistically determined, as we can only work within the confines of how it is applied in the US (which is all that statistical & qualitative studies are able to do).

I don't know if we have a consensus. I've seen someone post here that it was "extremely obvious that the Death Penalty is not a deterrant". I don't think it is obvious at all.

The only way we could accurately determine if the Death Penalty could be affective in the U.S would be to have another country with a comparable population and set of secular democratic ideals that actually actively uses it in a way similar to that countries like Singapore, Iran, and Saudi Arabia does. As far as I know, no such country exists.

Edited June 5, 2007 by dalegg

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

While admittedly statistics can be distorted to fit pre-fabricated conclusions, in this case I think the lack of “conclusive” evidence would tend to support the one interpretation (i.e. no deterrent) over the other (real, substantive deterrent). You even hinted as much in your when you said:

How do you determine whether or not the death penalty is affective if it is hardly even used? I wonder if the people who commit the murders even know whether or not there is a death penalty in their state.

What we have here is a consensus, albeit from a number of different angles, that support a specific interpretation. I'm also more inclined to believe someone who has actually done some sort of research on the subject (incidentally - reputable academics who do this kind of work openly cite the flaws of their methodology) rather than a few disparate quotes by politicians.

The question of whether the death penalty is generally a deterrant isn't something that can be realistically determined, as we can only work within the confines of how it is applied in the US (which is all that statistical & qualitative studies are able to do).

I don't know if we have a consensus. I've seen someone post here that it was "extremely obvious that the Death Penalty is not a deterrant". I don't think it is obvious at all.

The only way we could accurately determine if the Death Penalty could be affective in the U.S would be to have another country with a comparable population and set of secular democratic ideals that actually actively uses it in a way similar to that countries like Singapore, Iran, and Saudi Arabia does. As far as I know, no such country exists.

Well... that's the problem with this type of research. Its not foolproof. Stands to reason that there's more to variations in crime rate than just what punishments happen to be on the table. As it stands however, its just not possible to extract those factors from any research - that's the limitation of sociological research. You won't find anyone who will claim that its an exact science. Clearly it isn't.

In that respect however, there is a greater burden of proof on those who claim it is a deterrent than those who don't. Inconclusive data only really supports one side of the argument - that the DP (as part of of a whole range of sociological factors that affect crime rate) by itself offers no substantive effect on deterrence.