http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/...lty_deterrence
Sounds believable except for one FACT. Texas has led and continue to led the country is executions. If the death penalty deters crime then how come Texas still leads in the number of people executed? Logically the number should have decreased to do the "deterent" effect. By now Texas should be murder free.
A meth addict killing someone while high is NOT thinking about the death penalty. Hell they do a drug made with stuff that has "may cause death if ingested" printed on it.
A guy coming home to find his wife fucking a dude then getting a gun out of a drawer and shooting them in the heat of passion is not thinking "Oh wait I better not kill them I might get the death penelty"
We all know most serial killers are crazy motherfuckers. They certainly are not thinking about the death penelty. The urge to kill for the most insane and bizare reasoning overrides any "I might get the needle" thinking.
By the way if Jeffrey Dahmer has gotten the death pentaly he most likely would still be alive. And when his time came his death would have been much less painful. I'm sure his victims families are happier Jeffrey's death came quicker and more painfully than it would have had he been sentence to death. FACT.