Police Chiefs: Death Penalty Doesn't Work

Published October 20, 2009 @ 04:05PM PT

A report released today by the Death Penalty Information Center finds that Police Chiefs don't believe the death penalty deters crime.

They also don't think it's a good use of taxpayer money.

Oh, and if they had to choose between life without parole (with victim restitution) and the death penalty, only 47% of them would choose death. That's exactly the same result as a Gallup poll of all Americans I reported on over the weekend.

Aren't police chiefs -- who see the results of violent crime up close, who come into contact with candidates for the death penalty -- uniquely qualified to evaluate its impact? I think they are. And they don't think it works.

The report goes on to examine the exorbitant -- and rising costs of capital punishment in this country. It delves into the opportunity cost of capital punishment -- a topic not often considered when looking at the straight dollar cost of executions. The talented defense attorneys and prosecutors who spend years of their time on death penalty cases could be spending that time more wisely, litigating critical cases that for one reason or another don't meet the mandate to involve a death sentence. It takes 1,000 hours of state-salaried time to arrive at a death sentence, DPIC finds, and only 100 hours to arrive at a sentence of life without parole. That's a lot of time that could be spent ensuring that cases carrying life sentences also get a just result.

The report is worth a look - download it here.

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Comments (4)

Discussions of the death penalty remind me os something I read a long time ago. England began to realize a couple hundred years ago that the death penalty was not a deterrent to crime when they discovered how many pockets were picked during the public execution of pick pockets.

I guess we are just a little bit slower.

Posted by james mcgee on 10/21/2009 @ 06:28AM PT
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Science has shown the death penalty to be a failed policy. It's also shown arresting non-violent drug offenders to be completely ineffective. But, we do it anyway. Why? Simply because the politicians we've put in office refuse to see the light of reason. There are none so blind as those that will not see.

Posted by Fred Frankenberg on 10/21/2009 @ 10:50AM PT
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The following article pretty well sums this debate up.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-schweitzer/death-from-cluelessness-s_b_327626.html

I find it particularly telling that the former Governor of Texas, the state with the highest killing rate, had the temerity to state the following:

“There is a very strong case to be made for…a look at the possibility of having life without parole so we don’t look up one day and determine that we, as the State of Texas, have executed someone who in fact was innocent.”

Imagine that...we the people have authorized government officials to commit the murder of innocent people, in the name of justice.

Posted by mark schmanke on 10/23/2009 @ 02:05AM PT
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It doesn't work because of the way we administer it. Long appeals, possible changes in sentences, etc. - when you give hope to those that are willing to kill, which at the worst allows them to live long, peaceful and cared for lives in prison, its not a bad option for them, and that's why they choose it. I also say bring back hard labor. Death sentences are in many ways useless rhetoric, and they know it. That's why the death sentence is not a deterrent.

I continue to believe that in the face of 'irrefutable confirming evidence (DNA matching, etc)' and quick justice - quick execution (no delays of any kind), it would be a deterrent.

Regardless the resolution of the above, I still fully support quick execution of mass murderers and serial killers if the convicted person's DNA is found on multiple victims along with other irrefutable incriminating evidence.

Posted by Diane Richardson on 10/23/2009 @ 08:46AM PT
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Matt has worked and volunteered in various capacities in criminal justice reform for several years. When he's not blogging, he works as the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project. Views expressed here are Matt's, and don't represent the positions of the Innocence Project.