Notes

Statistics show that capital punishment is one of the greatest deterrents for crimes. In the 1950s , when popular opnion against the death penalty lead to its abolishment from the legal system, homicide rates rose dramatically. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, the highest homicide rate was being 10.2 murders per 100,000 people in the United States. That means every year there is an average increase by .187 to the number of murders from 1950, that being 4.6 per 100,000 people (Evans). Had the death penalty not been reinstated the number of murders per 100,000 people in 2000 would be roughly 13.95 which is over twice what it was in 2000, 5.5 murders per 100,000 people, and that is just assuming it would be a constant increase. Michael Davis, a senior research associate at the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at the Illinois Institute of Technology, believes that the death penalty is the greatest deterrent to crime “because people fear death the most” (Davis). Davis’ conclusion is also backed by statistics as according to data found on the United States Department of Justice website “the number of executions plummeted from 47 in 1962 to 2 in 1967 to zero in 1968. The homicide rate, which had been holding steady around 5 [murders per 100,000 people in the United States] throughout the 50’s, stared up in 1965, just two years after executions began their plummet” (Johansen). Although some may say that it was just a coincidence that homicide rates grew at the same time, the number of executions fell, “the number of executions suddenly went up in 1983, and in that year the homicide rate showed its biggest one-year drop” (Johansen). Although other variables could have been the reason for the sudden change the fact that the death penalty was reintroduced must have had some sort of effect on the minds of the criminals. The simple fact of life is that people are afraid of death, which is why humans have a fight or flight instinct when some sort of danger approaches and that is a natural feeling that human beings generally have built in.