The Capital Punishment



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Introduction3

Reasons why Capital Punishment has Deterrent effects4

The effects of simple deterrence when the punishment is enforced for moralizing4

The respect for the law through punishment and the habit building5

The rationale for conformity through punishment6

References7

The Capital Punishment

Introduction

The Capital Punishment is the termination of the criminal's life, which usually involves the serious violent offenses. This punishment has raised several issues and concerns amongst the western democracies and only American is the country to retain the death penalty. In UK, the Capital Punishment was abolished for all forms of murder cases in 1965, whereas in 1976 abolished in Canada. In all the states of Australia the Capital Punishment was abolished in 1984. The high profile cases related to international terrorism and war are brought to justice through Capital Punishment. Historically, the debate drives on the punishments of different forms, which involves the cultural, social and political factors (Chan & Oxley, 2004).

The acrimonious debate has continued for centuries on the capital punishment. In few decades, this debate has heated up in America's courts as the Supreme Court has imposed the moratorium for the capital punishment. Several states are changing the policy, regarding the death penalty status. For example, Nebraska has recently passed a moratorium of two years on executions, which was vetoed by governor of the state (Zimring & Hawkins, 1973). Other ten states have also considered the moratorium. The most important issue regarding the debate is whether the Capital Punishment has deterrent effects. The criminologist and psychologist examined the issue and initially reported as there are no deterrent effects (Zimring & Hawkins, 1986; Caroline, Illinois & Maryland 1959; Sellin, 1959). Where as the economists' studies are sharply contrasting the criminologist suggestion about the deterrent effects and proposed the regression results in response. These significant deterrent effects were the findings and research of Ehrlich's work. These researches have borne out the considerable attention from the public, regarding the policy issues. The US Solicitor General introduced the findings related to capital punishment to the Supreme Court (Dezhbakhsh et al., 2000).

Reasons why Capital Punishment has Deterrent effects

In order to determine the effectiveness of the Capital Punishment, it is essential to the theory of deterrence. The simplest definition of deterrence is the effect that results to refrain the individual from committing the crime of threatened behavior. The individual deterrence refers to the restraint effect of punishment on the punished individual. The general deterrence refers the inhibiting sanctioned effects on the activities of people which are criminal other than the offender who is sanctioned (Chan & Oxley, 2004). Thus, in capital punishment only the general deterrence is the issue. The other distinction is between marginal and absolute deterrence. The capital punishment has proven to be effective deterrent than the alternative punishment for example, the life imprisonment (Ehrlich, I, 1975). There are several reasons to justify that the capital punishment has deterrent effects few are as follows

The effects of simple deterrence when the punishment is enforced for moralizing

The respect for the law through punishment and the habit ...