Jessica Beltran
Soc 4 Sect #0459
April 22, 2015
“Capital Punishment and Deterrence”
Examining the Effect of Executions on Murder in Texas
The Strand Article on Capital Punishment and Deterrence is tested on the deterrence hypothesis in Texas. It includes most active execution jurisdiction during 1984 through 1997. It also looks into murder rates and felony murder rates. The deterrence hypothesis is based on the idea that many people believe that one of the most effective ways to deter violent crimes is the use of tough punishment, including death penalty. Several ways this hypothesis is supported is one, when lower homicide rates are found within time periods or jurisdictions where the death penalty as been available in use. Second, when the homicide rates are higher in the presence of capital punishment, such as the brutalization hypothesis. Which means, that is acceptable to kill in some circumstances and that society disregards “sanctity of life”. Lastly, the death penalty is found to have no influence on homicide rates.
Beginning studies and history of deterrence and capital punishment were classified by cross-sectional designs between homicide rates and jurisdictions. Terroritory states (rententionist) experienced higher rates of homicide than abolitionist jurisdictions. It also, suggests that other factors other than death penalty, influenced those homicide rates. Isaac Ehrlich in 1975 tested the deterrent effects of death penalty over time. He claimed that executions that were carried out during 1933 through 1969 resulted in significant reduction in the number of homicides occurring throughout the United States. When it came to re-analyzing the work he had done, it failed to support the deterrence hypothesis. Researches concluded from Ehrlich research that it had inappropriate designs and failed to find evidence of the deterrent effect. The next set of researches to find evidence were Peterson and Bailey in 1991 measured the certainty of punishment by analyzing the relationship between executions and the monthly rates of felony murder in the U.S from 1976 though 1987. There result ended with no consistent relationship between the number and publicity of executions, along with the rate of the felony murder. Peter and Bailey concluded to their study that, lack of evidence for any deterrent effect of capital punishment was “incontrovertible” (unarguable). They believed that no credible studies were able to demonstrate the severity or certainty of capital punishment and how it reduced the rate of homicide. This led to the most active death penalty state, Texas. Texas has more than a third of all executions in the U.S since 1972. In 1997 alone, Texas executed a record number of 37 capital murderers, accounting for half of the 74 U.S executions in that year.
The data and methods used to examine the deterrence hypothesis were during 1984 through 1997. Some of that date was limited due to the result of the Houston Police Department failure to report information on homicides. So, they began with the year 1984 date collection because of the availability of the specific date on homicides and onset of executions. The independent variable was the number of executions, provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The dependent variable included rates of murder and rates of felony murder, provided by the Texas Department of Public safety. The murder rate consisted on the number of murders and non-negligent manslaughters occurring in Texas during that time. Several control variables were collected from the Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR). This included, percentage of homicide resulting from gunshots was from the availability of firearms. The high and low season variable specified months that had higher or lower homicide rates. High season were months of July and August. Low season only included February. The year 1977, also became a control variable because of the record number of executions it had.
The analysis and findings from the executions and murder rates during this time showed that small waves of executions peaked at 10 in 1986. A slump of executions then occurred after that on average of four per year during 1988 through 1991. The substantial wave excitations passed during 1992 through 1995. In September 1996, executions were put to a halt to await decisions of the Texas court of Criminal Appeals on the legality of new procedures. They then, resumed in 1997. The rate of murder in the state from 1984 to 19991 showed no trend in relation to execution rate. There was a slight decrease in murder rates from 1987 to 1989. The greatest amount of support for the deterrence theory came from the decrease in the murder rates with the increase of execution during the 1990’s. During 1996, murder rates in the U.S were declining during that same period of executions, which suggest that factors unrelated to those executions were responsible for the pattern. Researchers tested other casual factors with control variables in murder rates. These variables included the percentage of population in the metropolitan areas, percentage in population age 18-34, the murder conviction rate and high season. The low season February, showed a negative relation to murder rates, while the high season was positively related to felony murder rates. The analysis of this is that the rate of felony murder was not related to the number of executions.
In Conclusion, researchers found out that the recent evidence from the most active execution state in the nation lent no support to the deterrence hypothesis. The number of executions did not appear to influence either the rate of murder in general or the rate of felony murder in particular. No support was found for the brutalization hypothesis as well, stating that executions did not reduce murder rates or increase murder rates. They concluded that other factors are responsible for the trend of murder rates.
Discussion question
1. Do you believe severe punishment causes high crime rates?
2. Do high crime rates affect people’s attitude about punishment?
3. What is your point of view on the Death penalty?
4. What factors do you believe are responsible for murder rates in the U.S?