ns to deter violent crime were a waste of time and money (Death Penalty No Deterrent). Attorney General Janet Reno stated, I do know that I have inquired for most of my adult life (into) studies that might show the death penalty is a deterrent, and I have not seen any research that would substantiate that point" (Reno: Death Penalty). Why is the death penalty not a deterrent to crime? Experts believe there are several answers to this question. The main reason that the death penalty does not deter crime is because on average, it takes ten years to execute an inmate after he or she has received a death sentence (Landauer). These ten years are filled with appeals and numerous attempts by the inmate and/or his lawyer to prevent the death sentence from ever being carried out. About half of the capital crime trials result in death sentences and only half of these sentences are carried out (Landauer). In other words, only one in four people tried in capital cases will be executed. Another reason that the death penalty is not a deterrent to violent crime is because one in fifty convicted murderers get the death penalty (Capital Punishment Numbers). All of these statistics lead to a conclusion as to why the death penalty is not a deterrent: there is no consistency, and the few individuals who do receive a death sentence are not swiftly executed. The death penalty lacks a deterrent effect because it is not administered quickly enough. If execution was a reasonably predictable punishment, administered in a short period of time, it could have a deterrent effect. But when we have thousands of murders, and maybe one person executed out of several thousand, and when it takes fifteen years between the crime and the punishment, it doesnt have a deterrent effect, said Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton (Foster). Each state has its own rules for who can or cannot be tried as a capital case, so no one knows if a person on trial will recei...
