THE DEATH PENALTY
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ImpacT OF THE DEATH PENALTY ON THE COMMUNITY
Impact on Crime Rates:
Most sources say that the death penalty does not deter crime rates or discourage and scare criminals into not committing crimes.
In 2009, a survey was sent to the leading criminologists in the United States. Based on all their studies and responses, 75% of these experts believed that keeping the death penalty would not have any effect on murder rates.
In the article The Death Penalty: No Evidence for Deterrence, John Donnohue and Justin Wolfers looked at statistical studies that tried to prove that the death penalty does deter the number of crime rates that occur but these authors concluded that the claim that the death penalty can save numerous lives "are simply not credible." They stated that using the same data and proper methodology could lead to the exact opposite conclusion: that is, that the death penalty actually increases the number of murders. The authors state: "We show that with the most minor tweaking of the [research] instruments, one can get estimates ranging from 429 lives saved per execution to 86 lives lost. These numbers are outside the bounds of credibility."
— Death Penalty Information Center
In 2009, a survey was sent to the leading criminologists in the United States. Based on all their studies and responses, 75% of these experts believed that keeping the death penalty would not have any effect on murder rates.
In the article The Death Penalty: No Evidence for Deterrence, John Donnohue and Justin Wolfers looked at statistical studies that tried to prove that the death penalty does deter the number of crime rates that occur but these authors concluded that the claim that the death penalty can save numerous lives "are simply not credible." They stated that using the same data and proper methodology could lead to the exact opposite conclusion: that is, that the death penalty actually increases the number of murders. The authors state: "We show that with the most minor tweaking of the [research] instruments, one can get estimates ranging from 429 lives saved per execution to 86 lives lost. These numbers are outside the bounds of credibility."
— Death Penalty Information Center
Impact on Families:
The death penalty might sound like a good idea when a huge crime is committied and one fears that the criminal being released might make them come around again but it does hurt both sides. Just because some's family member committed a crime, doesn't mean the whole family are criminals. For example, in Maryland, Murder Victims' Families Testified on the death penalty after their nephew was murdered. The mother, Kathy Garcia, said "I've watched too many families go through this to make me believe the system will ever work." "The system is just too painful," she added.
Families were devastated when a study was released that day showing that Maryland taxpayers had spent at least 186 million dollars on the death penalty since 1978. The next year, posted on the Washington Post, was "Maryland Judge Joseph P. Manck sought to lessen the pain and frustration to the victims' family by sentencing a defendant to life in prison without the possibility of parole instead of the death penalty."
The death penalty does hurt and destroy families.
Families were devastated when a study was released that day showing that Maryland taxpayers had spent at least 186 million dollars on the death penalty since 1978. The next year, posted on the Washington Post, was "Maryland Judge Joseph P. Manck sought to lessen the pain and frustration to the victims' family by sentencing a defendant to life in prison without the possibility of parole instead of the death penalty."
The death penalty does hurt and destroy families.