Possibility of a Death Sentence increases likelihood of a 'plea bargain', rather than 'run the gauntlet' in a trial hearing where execution might be Sentenced
Empirical Evidence Quantifies Charged Persons On Remand Plead Guilty To Avoid
Being Sentenced To Death
Ipso facto, the prospect of being found guilty for killing another, or other
human beings,
and being executed
Deters some humans form murder
Below is an extract from By man shall his blood be shed - A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment:
"Defendants charged with capital murder................. often chose to avoid the risk of a death sentence by pleading guilty in exchange for a sentence to life without parole or to a very long fixed sentence 94"
Below are pertinent extracts from Leveraging Death - Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology - Volume 103 | Issue 2 Article 3 - Spring 2013 - Sherod Thaxton who examined "capital charging-and-sentencing decisions in Georgia USA between 1993–2000" of over 100 persons charged with murder.
"Plea bargaining is a crucial feature of our criminal justice system, as approximately 95% of convictions that occur within a year of arrest are obtained by a guilty plea.
The results provide strong evidence that the threat of the death penalty has a robust causal effect on the likelihood of a plea agreement—the threat of the death penalty increases the probability of a plea agreement by approximately 20 to 25 percentage points across various model specifications."
(S. Thaxton, "Leveraging Death," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, forthcoming (2012); DPIC posted, Sept. 13, 2012). Sherod Thaxton is the Earl B. Dickerson Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. See Studies and Costs.
Below is an extract from Does the Threat of the Death Penalty Affect Plea Bargaining in Murder Cases? Evidence from New York’s 1995 Reinstatement of Capital Punishment - Ilyana Kuziemko, Harvard University 2006
"6. Conclusion
The findings here suggest that the threat of the death penalty leads more defendants to plead guilty to their original arraignment (indictment) charges."
Leveraging Death - Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology - Volume 103 | Issue 2 Article 3 - 2013 by Sherod Thaxton of University of Chicago Law School examined the effect of the threat of the death penalty on 'plea bargaining'. Using statistical analysis of charging and sentencing data in Georgia between 1993 and 2000, Thaxton found that the possibility of a death sentence increased the likelihood of a 'plea bargain':
"deterring two out of every ten death noticed defendants from pursuing a trial."
See: Capital Punishment Deters Homicides
Other reasons to re-introduce Capital Punishment in Australia