The Death Penalty in the United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Death Penalty in the United States - Essay Example Currently, US states with capital punishment record higher murder rates than those without. This means death penalty has failed deter crime the US. A recent survey conducted on the country’s most leading criminologists reveals that many of them do not believe that the enforcement of death penalty has helped to deter homicides (Radelet and Lacock, 2009). One reason for this is that death penalty never addresses the internal and external forces behind offense. For example, many crimes are driven by the prevailing unfriendly and increased unemployment rates. Such situations also trigger aggression among populations. Therefore, killing those found guilty does not solve the problems of the remaining lot. There are also some types of murders that are non-deterrable for example family disputes that result to a non-premeditated murder. These normally increase during times of economic hardships. Increases crime rates can also be linked to increased drug abuse and the never-ending racia l biases (Liebman, et al, 2000). Glaeser and Sacerdote (1999) state that whenever execution is publicized, it tends to trigger more murders in the subsequent days and weeks. The Linberg kidnapping is a good example this. A number of states adopted the death penalty for kidnapping but figures indicate that kidnapping increased.