NCJ Number
173493
Journal
Advocate Volume: 19 Issue: 6 Dated: November 1997 Pages: 37-43
Date Published
1997
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Social science research has consistently provided irrefutable evidence that capital punishment is bad policy.
Abstract
First, research shows that the death penalty does not deter homicide. No study has ever found a deterrent effect for capital punishment, no matter how skewed the research question was in favor of the death penalty. Its alleged deterrent value is refuted by all that is known about violent crime. Second, the research shows that the death penalty does, invariably and without exception, increase the number of homicides in jurisdictions where it is applied. This has been proven in Pennsylvania, California, Oklahoma, and other jurisdictions. Third, the administration of the death penalty is arbitrary and capricious. In the post-Furman era, defendants in capital cases are charged differently and treated differently for no apparent or logical reason. Fourth, the one aspect of capital punishment that is certain is that it is racist; prosecutors are far more likely to seek the death penalty when the victim is white than when the victim is black; in addition, juries are far more likely to hand down death sentences when the victim is white. Fifth, virtually all defendants in death penalty cases are poor and unable to afford private counsel; consequently, they are represented by public defenders or court-appointed counsel who are often inexperienced and not well trained in litigating a capital case. 31 references