[Vision2020] Study says Death Penalty IS a Deterent

[Joe Campbell]

Donovan,

You write: "Joe, if you keep shooting rabbits that try to eat your carrots you will soon have a population of rabbits that don't eat your carrots, either by eventually shooting them all, or only leaving a population of rabbits that don't desire your carrots or have the restraint not to eat your carrots.
  "The Death Penalty produces the same results in your human population. By shooting everyone that commits murder, you will seriously reduce the number of people in your population that commit murder by creating a population that either has no desire to murder or has the self restraint not to murder.--Which is a desired result."

This is the point. What evidence do you have that the "death penalty" produces the result you suggest, e.g., that it lowers the number of murders? Haven't the number of murders gone up, or remained the same, since the death penalty was introduced?

More to the point, your 'study' does not address this issue. The 'study' estimates the number of future murders that might be committed by individuals in prison and suggests that were those folks put to death those murders would not occur. This says nothing about the overall murder rate.

Furthermore, the 'study' says nothing about whether or not the death penalty deters murder, or even that it is an effective 'solution' to the problem. Consider the rabbit example again. It might make you feel good to keep shooting the rabbits but if they reproduce at a rate that is faster than the rate at which you are killing them, then this is not a solution to the problem.

What EVIDENCE does anyone have that suggests that the death penalty is a solution to the problem of murder in America? For all the tough talk, I haven't seen any real evidence to support the claim.
   
Best, Joe