Death Penalty: Impact on Crime Rates

------The death penalty has been debated for years and while many people have different viewpoints on it everyone has the same question: does the death penalty have an effect on crime? Whether or not the death penalty is morally correct or wrong the it’s effect on crime is what people tend to focus on the most in making the decision in whether it should be used in their country or not. Many tend to believe that the death penalty does have an effect on crime while others believe that it does not.

------There have been many studies that have come to the conclusion that the death penalty deters crime and actually saves lives. In the article, “The Death Penalty Deters Crime and Saves Lives” by David B. Muhlhausen, the author explains why the death penalty deters crime by explaining the deterrence theory which states that criminals think like regular citizens in that they will not act against their own

The study by Edwin Sutherland, which gave a confirmation that the death penalty does deter crime, however criminologists have started to prove this wrong, even calling it a myth. Michael L. Radeltt & Traci L. Lacock’s 2009 survey of the members of the American Criminology Society found that 88% of criminologist at ACS did not believe the death penalty was capable of deterring murderers and lowering crime. This belief begins the multitude of questions as to why criminologist believe the death penalty does not deter crime. Thus brings the question of if the death penalty deters crime back to step one along with a multitude of questions; do other factors contribute to the deterrence of crime? The stance, albeit varied, ranges from two spectrums of the opposite of the argument concerning the death penalty; the death penalty doesn’t deter crime, or there is no concrete evidence that proves that the death penalty does deter