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Defined Terms
Baker's Dozen Problems
Articles & Reports - Bibliography
Petition
4.
Capital Punishment Patently Deters Homicides
Below are three extracts from
Capital
Punishment Patently Deters Homicides:
"In June 2007, a paper titled 'The
Death Penalty Deters Crime and Saves Lives' was delivered by
David Muhlhausen (Research Fellow in Empirical Policy Analysis at The Heritage
Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis) before the
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights of the
Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate.
That paper provided cogent evidence from a welter of earlier
analysis, as well as David Muhlhausen's research findings based on
'multiple data' collection
points, that
"....capital punishment
produces a strong deterrent effect that saves lives":
"In summary, the recent studies using panel data techniques have confirmed what
we learned decades ago: Capital punishment does, in fact, save lives.
Each
additional execution appears to deter between three and 18 murders. While
opponents of capital punishment allege that it is unfairly used against
African-Americans, each additional execution deters the murder of 1.5
African-Americans. Further moratoria, commuted sentences, and death row removals
appear to increase the incidence of murder."
The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment:
Evidence from a “Judicial Experiment” -
July 2003 - Hashem
Dezhbakhsh (Emory University) & Joanna M. Shepherd (Clemson University)
that used
murders data covering the fifty U.S. states during the period
1960-2000:
"The results are boldly clear: executions deter murders and murder rates
increase substantially during moratoriums. The results are consistent across
before-and-after comparisons and regressions regardless of the data’s
aggregation level, the time period, or the specific variable used to measure
executions."
"Plea bargaining
Some
research papers have made the case that a murderer was often comfortable with being
found guilty of less than 1st degree murder and thereby
Sentenced to a lengthy jail sentence,
rather than run the risk of contesting a 1st degree murder charge and being found guilty
and Sentenced to death.
The possibility of a Death Sentence
has
increased the likelihood of a
'plea bargain', rather than 'run the gauntlet' in a murder trial hearing
where if found guilty execution might be Sentenced.
Such patent
plea bargaining (pleading
guilty to a lesser offence) evidences that a lot of people on a charge of murder would sooner accept a
lengthy jail sentence, rather that run the risk in a contested murder trial of being
found guilty and thence sentenced to death."
Patently the
'death penalty' is a cogent
Deterrent to committing homicide.
Prima facie civil liberties groups that oppose the
Death
Penalty have short concentration spans. By nature they lack the
Read, Comprehend and Respond in Writing skills necessary to grasp the myriad of
impacting components of Australia's complex and multi-faceted
Criminal Justice System. If opponents of the re-introduction of both
Corporal Punishment and Capital Punishment in Australia did possess requisite R, C and R skills,
some disagree-rs would have accepted this Writer's invitation at
www.AustraliaSlowlearner.world
to -
A) review his Discussion Paper titled
'Thinking
Outside the Cell ; -
B) complete the
associated
Peer
Review Form that provides ample opportunity to disagree with this
Writer's beliefs/opinions/assertions therein; and
C) email their completed
Peer
Review Form to this Writer's nominated email address (provided in
www.AustraliaSlowlearner.world).
The opportunity remains open for civil libertarians
inter alios
to undertake A), B) and C) above via
www.AustraliaSlowlearner.world
and so provide a variety of written perspectives on this consequential issue,
because their efforts might save innocent lives.
The same civil liberties groups that oppose the
Death Penalty also chose to believe that the prospect of a
Sentence of
Capital Punishment for 1st Degree murder is not a potent
Deterrent
to others committing murder, when patently experts have opined to the highest
levels of authority, primarily in the USA and Europe, that the threat of being
Sentenced
to the
Death Penalty is an effective
Deterrent.
Capital
Punishment Patently Deters Homicides provides such expert testimonies.
Capital
Punishment is more humane and civilised than
Life Without Parole
In addition to the three primary interrelated
pillars
of Australia's
Criminal Justice System are also
forensic services and academia. Australia's
Criminal Justice System
is a network of government and private agencies intended to manage accused and
convicted criminals. These five
pillars
are fashioned to support
the ideals of legal justice.
Unfortunately, these
ideals
can become conflicted, particularly on the issue of whether the
Death Penalty
is a potent
Deterrent
to others committing homicide. Doubtless that some
Folk
that derive their income from working within Australia's
112 custodial facilities,
hold the view that the
Death Penalty is not an effective
Deterrent
to heinous murders
and that lengthy jail incarceration is the optimum remedy. Those income-derived
Folk may have associates within academia adept at chronicling papers/reports
to that effect, but generally such papers are bereft of empirical forecasts and
set out the basis of those forecasts.
Dating back even before the crucifixion of
Jesus of Nazareth, prisons were only used as a 'holding cabin' until the
Sentence, usually death, was imposed.
Rulers believed that a painful, drawn out, public execution
transmitted the most potent message to others not to similarly transgress.
Joan of Arc was also executed brutally. Swift and cruel punishment was
deemed necessary to warn others of the likely consequences of similarly
transgressing.
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