Reply #47: If you raise children to believe

[noamnety]

that some people deserve to be killed, what do you think that teaches them about how to resolve conflict? What does it teach them about violence?

Here's what the ASC thinks:

* A survey of experts from the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Law and Society Association showed that the overwhelming majority did not believe that the death penalty is a proven deterrent to homicide. Over 80% believe the existing research fails to support a deterrence justification for the death penalty. Similarly, over 75% of those polled do not believe that increasing the number of executions, or decreasing the time spent on death row before execution, would produce a general deterrent effect. (M. Radelet and R. Akers, Deterrence and the Death Penalty: The Views of the Experts, 1995)

* Research reported in Homicide Studies, Vol. 1, No.2, May 1997, indicates that executions may actually increase the number of murders, rather than deter murders. Prof. Ernie Thomson at Arizona State University reported a brutalizing effect from an execution in Arizona, consistent with the results of a similar study in Oklahoma.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?&did=1705#crimi

And, as I stated above, the cost comes at the expense of other people. What programs do you think should be cut to pay for your revenge fantasy? Whose programs are you willing to sacrifice, for these people you think aren't worth anything?