Julia Riesenbach
Professor Billingsley
SOC210
November 27, 2018
The Effect of Capital Punishment on Violent Crimes
Introduction
This research paper examines capital punishment and to what extent criminals consider it before committing a violent crime. There is a common belief that people in society may think twice about a horrendous act of violence if they know that they could receive a death sentence as a result. In all likelihood they will be caught and convicted, but many criminals will take that risk. The other side of the argument is that the threat of the death penalty poses no threat at all and criminals give it no thought. The violent crimes that they commit could be an “in the moment—heat of passion” type of crime where there is no thought at all as to the ramifications of the action. The crime could also be a premeditated, caused by an act of revenge or devised by a mentally-ill individual. The purpose of this research is to examine whether the extent a criminal contemplates capital punishment and the consequences of it prior to committing a crime reduces violent crimes. Most criminals are ignorant to the consequences or results of committing a crime, so the threat of the death penalty has no effect on them. While previous research had shown that the extent offenders consider the risk of capital punishment has no impact on violent crimes, it had also been theorized that the extent offenders consider the risk of capital punishment decreases violent crimes is possible, too.
The ethical and moral issues the research issue faces are informed consent, confidentiality, privacy, whether to pay them or not for their participation and the mental state of the interviewee. These issues include making sure that prisoners are given the choice of whether they want to consent or not, whether the prisoner themselves or a staff member of the prison makes the decision whether or not to participate, interview notes could be lost or stolen or confiscated by the prison guards, prisoners may disclose information about a crime they were never committed for or disclose future plans/crimes, prisoners may disclose information about whether they may harm themselves or others, everyone sees mostly everything, everyone knows a lot about what is going on, word gets around, whether to pay them or not for their participation since payment could be seen as compulsory, whether or not they are mentally stable, if there are any triggering words or topics for a specific person, and bringing up past traumatic events because it could lead to emotional distress.
Background
The origins of the death penalty date back to the Eighteenth Century B.C. during the reign of King Hammurabi of Babylon. There were 25 different crimes in which a person could be sentenced to death. The death penalty also existed back in the Fourteenth Century B.C. (Hittite Code), the Seventh Century B.C. (Draconian Code of Athens), which actually made death the only penalty for all crimes. The ways that death sentences were carried out back then were: torture, drowning, beating, crucifixion and burning alive. In the Tenth Century A.D. in Britain, hanging was the go-to method used for the death penalty. Over the next few centuries, capital crimes in Britain continued to increase until the 1800’s. During that time, courts would not convict people for minimal crimes due to the harshness of the punishment, so as a result of this; the death penalty was eliminated for over 100 of the 222 crimes that were punishable by death in Britain.
The British legal system obviously had the most influence on the American legal system. When British and European settlers came to America, they brought their ideals concerning capital punishment with them. This was how the institution of punishing violent crimes by death came to be. Back in 1608, the first recorded execution in the colonies was of Captain George Kendall from the Jamestown colony in Virginia. He was killed for being a spy for Spain. Laws regarding the death penalty varied by colony. Some colonies had very strict laws regarding crimes that were punishable by death. In 1612, Virginia enacted a law that was punishable by death for trading with Indians. The belief that the threat of the death penalty could be a deterrent for future crimes goes way back to when Dr. Benjamin Rush in late 1700s aggressively challenged it. Rush believed in what was called the “brutalization effect” and felt that the threat of the death penalty actually increased brutal crimes. He was able to influence many of the decision-makers in the Pennsylvania legislature and in 1794 was able to get the death penalty repealed in the state (except for first degree murder).
In the 1800s, many states began to reduce the types of crimes that were punishable by death. Some states, such as Michigan, even went as far as abolishing the death penalty completely. From the 1920s to the 1940s, there were more deaths by execution than during any other period. The cause of this increase of deaths by execution was due to studies by criminologists who suggested that the death penalty was a necessary part of society. By the 1950s and 1960s, the public began to disapprove of capital punishment and the amount of executions decreased from 715 in the 1950s to 191 between 1960 and 1976. This was a result of the fact that by 1963, most capital punishment laws throughout the United States had been abolished. Based on previous research and as stated above, the extent offenders consider the risk of capital punishment has no impact on violent crimes, but it had also been hypothesized that the extent offenders consider the risk of capital punishment decreases violent crimes is possible, too. Literature Review
In September of 1974, The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology wrote an article on the ongoing question of whether there was a relationship between murder and the death penalty. The article consisted of early investigations as well as more current investigations which were consistent with the findings of the earlier investigations. The article, Murder and the Death Penalty by William C. Bailey, states that a survey on murder and the death penalty concluded that the early investigation and later examinations have persuaded many students of murder that capital punishment is ineffective as a reduction to crime has been proven conclusive.
In the article, there was a comparison between states with the death penalty to states without/that have abolished it and whether or not their murder rates differ. Furthermore, it is evident that the effect that capital punishment has on violent crimes is mostly due to three types of investigations which are “(1) comparative analyses of homicide rates for states which differ in provisions for the death penalty; (2) longitudinal investigations of homicide rate for states before and after the abolition and/or restoration of the death penalty; and (3) longitudinal examinations of homicide rates immediately preceding and immediately following publicity of executions” (Bailey 416). In addition, abolitionist states normally have no abnormal increase in murder and “a comparison of rates both between death penalty and abolition states as well as comparison of rates for each with the nation’s average, shows rates of all murders to be substantially higher in capital punishment jurisdictions” (Bailey 420). Both abolition states and death penalty states have high murder rates, being even higher in death penalty states.
As stated, the research in this article is a further, more current, examination of the relationship between capital punishment and homicide rates. The more recent investigation inquired all the State Bureaus of Corrections asking for the number of convicted first degree murderers in prison in 1967 and 1968. The limitations in this data are due to the variations in homicide statutes across the country. Due to the variations in homicide statutes, the data acquired may not accurately reflect the total number of first- and second-degree murder convictions. How well this data reflects the total number is unknown, but the data did reflect, with some error, the number of convicted first and second-degree murderers convicted. Based on this research and the evidence that is presented, it can be concluded that the death penalty is ineffective and poses no threat to criminals to stop them from committing crimes.
In April of 1975, New York History wrote an article about the debate on capital punishment in New York. The authors, Richard B. Dressner and Glenn C. Altschuler, examined the arguments given by supporters and non-supporters of capital punishment during a New York Constitutional Convection. The article, The Sentiment and Statistics in the Progressive Era: The Debate on Capital Punishment in New York by Richard B. Dressner and Glenn C. Altschuler, debates whether the abolishment of the death penalty deters capital crimes and concludes that capital punishment has no impact on crime.
One of the most important advocates of the retention of the death penalty was President Theodore Roosevelt. As stated in the article, “For Roosevelt it was death itself, especially when freely given in the service of a transcendent cause that provided the very meaning of life” (Dressner and Altschuler 192). Roosevelt argued that it was the state’s responsibility to execute criminals and tried to influence American citizens to feel the same way. The limitations of this data were biased. As stated in the article, “The assembly of delegates to the New York State Constitutional Convection was heavily dominated by attorneys who prided themselves on their commitment to scientific evidence and rational persuasion” (Dressner and Altschuler 208). The delegates already formed an opinion and ignored the points argued by the other side.
The debate states that the death penalty is ineffective as a reduction to crime rate, but it is likely that capital punishment tends to reduce particular crimes. The debate also states that far from serving as a deterrent, the opponents of the death penalty punishment argued that it actually increased the number of serious crimes. Due to these statements and statements made by prisoners themselves, many criminals rarely think about the outcome/consequences of committing a crime, concluding that the abolishment of the death penalty does not impact whether or not a criminal commits a crime. Despite what the literature says, further research needs to be done to support that the hypothesis, the extent offenders consider the risk of capital punishment decreases violent crimes, is true.
Study Design and Methods and Testable Hypothesis
The sampling design I will be using is probability sampling. My research is cross sectional because I plan to test individuals who have committed/been convicted of a crime and whether or not they considered the risk of capital punishment prior to committing the said crime, which is a cross section of a population (criminals). The sampling technique I will be using is stratified sampling where I will divide the population into two, civilians and criminals, and from each stratum, a simple random sample will be taken. I will then give a questionnaire to each stratum. I will ask criminals whether they considered the risk of capital punishment before committing a crime, and if so, to what extent on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being the highest. I will then ask civilians if they were to commit a crime, whether they would consider the risk of capital punishment and to what extent on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being the highest.
The variables of my research are offenders, violence, crime and capital punishment. The conceptual definition of violence is the capacity of an offender’s act of harm in a specific crime committed, while the operational definition of violence is the measure of an offenders convicted act of capital offense whether it be rape, murder, robbery, etc. The conceptual definition of offenders is a person who commits an illegal act and is convicted, while the operational definition of offenders is each individual offender’s unlawful acts measured to capital punishment. The conceptual definition of crime is an offender’s action of committing an unlawful act, while the operational definition of crime is the measure of an offender’s type of offense (organized crime, white-collar crime, etc.). The conceptual definition of capital punishment is the legal act of killing an offender as punishment for an unlawful act committed, while the operational definition of capital punishment is the measure of killing an offender whether it be through lethal injection, electrocution, death row, hanging, etc.
Analysis
The analysis I will use to test the hypothesis is bivariate, which is the analysis of two variables. During this research, the two variables that will be tested are the independent variable, capital punishment, and the dependent variable, violent crimes. The type of research that correlates with the type of analysis I am using, bivariate, is inferential statistics because this research shows whether or not there is a relationship between the independent variable, capital punishment, and the dependent variable, violent crimes, as stated above. The purpose and logic for the type of analysis that will be used for this research is that this research is analyzing the relationship between capital punishment and violent crimes. With bivariate, I would use the T-test due to my study design and methods. As mentioned above, I am going to use a questionnaire that will ask criminals and civilians whether they considered/would consider the risk of capital punishment before committing a crime, and if so, to what extent on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being the highest. I will use the T-test by making a table with five columns and two rows. The first row will be “criminals and civilians” with criminals being 1 and civilians being 2, the sample size being “N”, the mean, the standard deviation, and the stand error mean. The second row will have the question asking, “did you/would you consider the risk of capital punishment before committing a crime and to what extent?”, the sample size in numbers, the mean in numbers, the standard deviation in numbers, and the stand error mean in numbers.
Conclusion
Based on this research and the previous research presented above along with the analysis, the extent offenders consider the risk of capital punishment has no impact on violent crimes. Despite what the literature says, further research needs to be done to support that the hypothesis, the extent offenders consider the risk of capital punishment decreases violent crimes, is true. The statement that the threat of the death penalty is impotent as a deterrent to criminals committing the violent act and that criminals do not think about the outcome of their actions prior to committing them, is very prominent in the research presented above.
Even though the threat of the death penalty is ineffective as a deterrent to the crime itself, it is still an important punishment available in the legal system and it has also been theorized that the extent offenders consider the risk of capital punishment decreases violent crimes is possible, too. In some cases, like senseless murders, it is believed that the “eye for an eye” mentality should be followed. If someone takes a life of someone, they should be put to death for it. You would think that if a murderer knew that they were going to be executed, they would not have committed the crime. Due to the research and past literature stated above, additional research needs to be conducted to support that the hypothesis, the extent offenders consider the risk of capital punishment decreases violent crimes, is correct.