Originally Posted by kane

I suppose somewhere out there there a guy might decide to not use a gun when he robs a store just to be sure that it doesn't accidentally go off and kill someone and land him on death row. But the information I read shows that states with the death penalty often have higher murder rates than those that don't. I don't think there a cause and effect there (meaning that I don't think people in non-death penalty states are kinder and gentler and vice versa), but I think it shows that it doesn't really work as deterrent. In 2012 there was a study done where they polled a number of leading criminologist and asked them if they thought the death penalty was a deterrent to homicide. 88% said it wasn't and 7% said they had no opinion one way or the other.

I guess it might prevent a few crimes or it may change the way some crimes are carried out, but in the end I just don't see it as being something that is an effective way to combat crime.