search Associated Poll asked law enforcement officers what they thought would help the deterioration of crime. 31% said reduce drug abuse, 17% said better economy and jobs, 16% said simplify court rules, 15% said longer prison sentence, 10% said more police officers, 3% said reducing guns, and 1% said expand the death penalty. There is some evidence, however that the death penalty is effective in the deterioration of crime. If all those caught producing addictive drugs, plus all of those caught selling addictive drugs in our country were confronted with capital punishment administered without recourse, by local authorities throughout our fifty states- then gradually this intolerable situation would be ameliorated and eventually conquered. (Long 53) In 1988, Arthur Bishop was executed. During that year there were 47 murders. Before that date there were 21, a 19% difference. In 1960, there were 56 executions and 9,410 murders. In 1964 there were 15 executions and 9,250 murders. In 1969-1975 there were no executions and 9,250 murders. This clearly shows that the number of murder rose while the number of executions decreased. Also, Isaac Ehrlich concluded from his research that every execution prevented 6 murders.The death penalty is not an effective way to deter crime. The only way to deter crime is to prevent it from happening, rather then enforcing harsh punishment to scare off potential crimes. Studies show that there is no relation between crime rates with death penalty states and crime rates without. Even though the death penalty seems like a favorable punishment for people who have committed crimes, it has no effect on the deterioration of crimes. Statistics show that there is no relationship between the number of crimes committed in the death penalty states and the number of crimes committed in the non-death penalty states. While a majority of people believes that the death penalty is a good punishment for crimes, t...
