Originally posted by scottishinnzThis looks like a case of misinterpreting figures.
btw my source is
http://www.nationmaster.com/cat/Crime
Are you sayaing that because of the Capital Punnishment, the US has a high crime rate ?
I would think that its more accurate to say that in spite of capital punnishment the US has a high crime rate.
Originally posted by Rajk999Nope, I'm not saying that capital punishment is the cause of crime. That'd be an exceptionally stupid argument to make. I was merely pointing out to Freaky that in the USA where the death penalty is applied that it cannot be unequivocally stated that it reduces crime. The US has crime rates as high as most places, and in some case higher than the average IN SPITE OF THE DEATH PENALTY.
This looks like a case of misinterpreting figures.
Are you sayaing that because of the Capital Punnishment, the US has a high crime rate ?
I would think that its more accurate to say that in spite of capital punnishment the US has a high crime rate.
Originally posted by Rajk999Feel free to look up the numbers yourself. The categories I used for my judgement were;
This looks like a case of misinterpreting figures.
Are you sayaing that because of the Capital Punnishment, the US has a high crime rate ?
I would think that its more accurate to say that in spite of capital punnishment the US has a high crime rate.
Crimes - Adults prosecuted (also per capita to make the comparison fairer, US #1 in both, by quite a long way)
Crime - Executions (simply to prove that the US does execute people)
Crime - Murders (also per capita) #6 in total muders, but they drop to #24 per capita, squeezed down by Bulgaria (#23)
Feel free to check it all out. I have done nothing but interpret the numbers.
Originally posted by FreakyKBHWrong again!
Those aware of historical trends both within the US and without are already fully aware of the statisistical veracity of this claim.
Bogging down the essence of the issue that has been many times proven begs the question. Refutation of the obvious earns the burden of proof.
7. The deterrence argument
Scientific studies have consistently failed to find convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments. The most recent survey of research findings on the relation between the death penalty and homicide rates, conducted for the United Nations in 1988 and updated in 2002, concluded: ". . .it is not prudent to accept the hypothesis that capital punishment deters murder to a marginally greater extent than does the threat and application of the supposedly lesser punishment of life imprisonment."
(Reference: Roger Hood, The Death Penalty: A World-wide Perspective, Oxford, Clarendon Press, third edition, 2002, p. 230)
8. Effect of abolition on crime rates
Reviewing the evidence on the relation between changes in the use of the death penalty and homicide rates, a study conducted for the United Nations in 1988 and updated in 2002 stated: "The fact that the statistics continue to point in the same direction is persuasive evidence that countries need not fear sudden and serious changes in the curve of crime if they reduce their reliance upon the death penalty".
Recent crime figures from abolitionist countries fail to show that abolition has harmful effects. In Canada, for example, the homicide rate per 100,000 population fell from a peak of 3.09 in 1975, the year before the abolition of the death penalty for murder, to 2.41 in 1980, and since then it has declined further. In 2003, 27 years after abolition, the homicide rate was 1.73 per 100,000 population, 44 per cent lower than in 1975 and the lowest rate in three decades.
(Reference: Roger Hood, The Death Penalty: A World-wide Perspective, Oxford, Clarendon Press, third edition, 2002, p. 214)
The death penalty is not a deterrent; in the US recent studies do not support the view that capital punishment acts as a deterrent. [11]. It is also argued that anyone who would be deterred by the death penalty would already have been deterred by life in prison, and people that are not deterred by that would not be stopped by any punishment. This argument is typically supported by claims that those states that have implemented the death penalty recently have not had a reduction of violent crime. A stronger variant of this argument suggests that criminals who believe they will face the death penalty are more likely to use violence or murder to avoid capture, and that therefore the death penalty might theoretically even increase the rate of violent crime. [12].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment#Arguments_against
Read those then I will post about a million more for you.