So you see, there was a 9 month moratorium on the DP in Ark and a 13 month moratorium in Ariz. The 28% and 23% increases could be attributed more to the lifting of the DP than to the re-imposition of it months later.
I thought the moratoria were on death penalty sentences...NOT ON MURDERS!!
So do you think N.Y. went up because of THEIR long moratorium on the death penalty! Do you think Florida went up 28 % because of the Moratorium!
You are obviously saying that the reason people murdered more in the year after the DP was reinstated was because they had murdered less when the DP moratoria were on! But if you are conceding that moratoria on the death penalty militated against yielding to the urge to kill--then why would you wish to argue the opposite at one and the same time? Do you really mean to avouch that people murdered less BECAUSE they were deterred by the ABSENCE of the death penalty, and that this somehow explains why they murdered MORE the next year when it was re-instated?
The moratoria were on death penalties, Bill; they were not on MURDERS. The truth is that murder rates do not vary in either direction because of whether or not there is or isn't a death penalty. The research is very clear on that, and the sociological explanations are well documented.
If you would like to see a funny stat on New York, though, I have this litle one:
Homicide rates from 1907 - 1963 in New York (which carried out 692 executions during the period) showed an average of two additional homicides in the month following an execution.
Does that mean that executions cause more defiance, and promote an attitude amongst those capable of murders which is the rationale for this increase in murder the month after executions?? I can tell you that there is absolutely no evidence for such a claim. So naturally I do not make it. But if the stats were the other way around (2 LESS homicides the month after every execution)--what would you say, Bill? Would you wave this statistic as "proof" that the death penalty is a deterrent?
Sorry, Bill. I understand your desire to shut the eyes of killers. You can find many reasons to do this, including that it would make you feel better. But the death penalty does not deter these people. There are many many ways of deterring crime, including murders. If your interest is in deterring crime, then you could put your voice and energy behind those ways which work. If, on the other hand, your interest is in finding some means by which you can justify a desire to see some bastard "pay the price" (and I don't presume that it is)--then you would be well advised to look for a different justification. |
