Criminal Justice by Daniel Burke

Criminal Justice by Daniel Burke

Daniel Burke

Criminal Justice

March 25, 2010

Death Penalty: Deterrence and an Eye for an Eye

Death Penalty: Deterrence and an Eye for an Eye

Introduction
Sitting in a cold, dull room along Death Row, Robert Willie waited for his number to be called. Willie and an accomplice Joseph Vaccaro had been on an 8-day murder, robbery, and rape spree. He and Vaccaro were both convicted of abducting, raping, and killing Faith Hathaway, 17. She was abducted after a farewell party in Mandeville, La on May 28 1980. She was raped by both men, stabbed 17 times, and then rapped once again after she was dead. After a vicious crime, one would think that death would be the proper sentence. Many people object to the death penalty and believe that it is wrong. I believe that deterrence is the correct way to approach the topic. The phrase, “An eye for an eye,” always comes to mind when I hear of a heinous crime.
Abolitionists and Retentionists
Driven by a renewed application of econometric tools to homicide statistics, the debate between death penalty “abolitionists” and “retentioners,” has entered a phase of renewed vigor. As recently as 1996, symposia on the death penalty were hard-pressed to find anyone in the legal academy willing to advocate the practice – or even to tolerate it as an exercise of legislative discretion (Keckler). In the most recent year for which statistics are available, there were 16,137 murders in the United States. There were 59 people executed during this same year. Aside from the obvious fact that the number of people killed by other individuals swamps those killed by the state, the important point to keep in mind is that homicide rates have fluctuated substantially over the last few decades. Most notably, considering only those states that have the death penalty, murder has declined by more than 50% from its peaks in the early 1980s and the early 1990s. The current national rate has declined by a third just since 1995 (Keckler).
Should...

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