Research Study

Research Study: Capital Punishment Trend in the U.S.

Student’s Name

Institution’s Name

Date

Research Study: Capital Punishment Trend in the U.S.

Introduction

Background Information

The criminal law of the United States gives various defined penalties for different adult offenders based on the magnitude of their crime. The criminal justice system has thus divided offenses in different classes based on their seriousness and the impact they create to the victims or the society in general. There are crimes that are considered to be minor, while there are others which are regarded to capital. While minor crimes receive manageable punishments, capital crimes which include murder, robbery with violence, and treason among others, are punishable by capital punishment. Capital punishment is the process of penalizing convicted criminals to death for being involved in capital crimes (most serious crimes) and executing the penalty. There are specific circumstances and offenses that determine whether a death sentence is eligible. These circumstances and crimes are described by the statute and they are prescribed by legislature of any state or the congress. Capital punishment is a controversial topic which initiates debate among the human right and religious bodies who stand strongly against it. The increase in the number and strength of anti-capital punishment activists in various parts of the world has resulted to abolishment of this punishment in various parts of the world including Australia, Canada, and United Kingdom among others. In the U.S. capital punishment has been ban by a number of states; about 18 states, although it is normally practiced across the country for federal crimes. In most states, death penalty has been replaced by life imprisonment without parole (LWOP). The rate of capital punishment practices in the United States is said to have declined compared to how the situation was in 20th century. This could have attributed to the signing of human right declaration in 1998 by President Clinton which increased the advocacy of LWOP in the country to replace death penalty (Dieter, n.d.).

Problem Statement

United States is among a few first world countries that practice capital punishment. Although this punishment is employed by law in various countries, it is hardly executed. Its extensive abolishment was highly on various factors especially questionable ethical aspects of the punishment. Capital sentence is put to instill fear among the capital offenders, with intention of reducing individuals who are involved in capital punishment. However the effective of capital punishment practice in reducing capital offenders or offending has never been fully ascertained. The questionability of its effectiveness resulted to the establishment of life imprisonment without parole as an alternative which is believed to have its effect on capital crime rate in the country. This research focuses on comparing the rate of capital crime before and after the introduction of LWOP to determine in the US for five years for both cases to determine the efficiency of death penalty in the country.

Significance of the Study

The research will help in determining whether capital punishment practice remains as the best method of curbing capital crimes or it should be completely abolished in the U.S. to adopt more appealing techniques that are effective in curbing capital crimes and that are more ethical for instance LWOP. This research will therefore be very important to the law enforcer in all US states especially those still employing death penalty and also all states’ criminal justice system.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of the research is to establish whether the practice of capital punishment reduces the number of those involved in capital crime. This will be done by comparing the five years trend on number of individual sentenced with capital crime (prisoners under death sentence) before and after the signing of the human rights declaration in 1998. This will assist in determining whether the extensive employment of LWOP in the criminal justice system has encouraged more people to be involved in capital crime compared to when death penalties were more practiced. The process will assist in determining the effectiveness of death penalty as the main way of fighting capital punishment.

Research Hypothesis

Hypothesis 1: Capital punishment; death penalty is the most effective way of curbing capital crimes

Hypothesis 2: Signing of human right declaration and hence the increase in the use of LWOP resulted to decline in those involved in capital crimes in the US

Research Question

Is death penalty an effective way of curbing capital crimes?

Did signing of human right declaration and hence the increase in the use of LWOP resulted to decline in those involved in capital crimes in the US?

Literature Review

The capital penalty has been a well-established, but extremely contentious practice for around 400 years in the U.S. The first criminal execution in the country happened during colonial period in 1622 in Virginia. Convicted criminals execution was allowed by highest states majority in 20th century. For the greatest part of the history of the U.S. capital penalty was protracted beyond murder crime to include kidnapping, arson, rape, burglary, possession of particular firearms, and armed robbery among other crimes in connection with violence crimes. In the US, the capital punishment history is almost centered fully on criminal justice systems of the state, contrary to the federal system. This is due to the fact that almost all main violent crimes that would attract death sentence take place in the states, but not in the federal system. An evaluation of the death penalty experience in the country is effectually that of male criminals since female criminals account for quite a minute number of those that have been qualified to be sentenced for capital punishment (Marcus, 2007).

Criminal sentencing in the past few decades in the US has turn to be harsher. Following a lengthy period of comparatively stable incarceration use for crime conviction, the last 30 years has experienced an approach of get-tough that has resulted to remarkable augment in rates of incarceration. Despite lack of tremendous growth in the population in the country, incarceration has augmented at least by six times. However, according to Marcus (2007), this increase in incarceration happened concurrently with significant decrease in the rate of violent crimes in the country. It has also been observed that the death penalty practice in the country has not adopted the incarceration rate upper trend. It has also been noted that although most states maintain the capital punishment, the real number of people sentenced the capital penalty and those who have already received it has substantially declined in decades to its lowest level. The total number of criminals executed every year in US has greatly varied in history, though it has declined substantially in recent years. During peak years which count up to 1976 more than 300 criminals were executed every year. This value reduced to more than 100 individuals in the 1940s and 1930s were executed every year. The number declined to 59 in 2004, followed by 60 in 2005, 53 in 2006, and 42 in 2007. Most individuals were in recent years executed in 1999 where 98 executions took place.

The state-authorized termination of a criminal life, normally due to serious offense is a subject which initiates emotions and many issues. The U.S. is the only nation among western democracies which has upheld the death penalty. Capital punishment for any capital crime was abolished in 1965 in UK, in 1976 in Canada, and by 1984 in Australia. The employment of various kinds of punishment is historically driven by a number of political, cultural and social factors which are frequently not associated with the crime control sanctions effectiveness. As many have claimed, the capital punishment use is highly based on moral and political issue which make people question on its appropriateness and legitimacy instead of its efficacy. In the U.S., according to Chan and Oxley (2004), the decision to abolish or use capital penalty has never been founded on a composed evaluation of the research evidence on its efficiency, but research is employed by individuals with committed perspectives to discredit their opponents or support convictions. Policymaking analysts have established that when views are divided sharply, research is frequently employed to give evidence which will comfort supporters, weaken positions of rivals and persuade the undecided. The political knowledge use during fight does not however preclude the likelihood that study evidence can be employed in an extra positive manner to inform policy and clarify issue, particularly where there is an extensive societal agreement regarding goals and value (Chan & Oxley, 2004).

Capital punishment establishment was based on deterrence theory which strongly believe that a punishment threat makes persons who could have participated in criminal or dangerous behavior to abstain from doing so. According to Dieter (2007), murder for decades has been more frequent instate employing capital punishment compared to those where it is abolished. Data demonstrates that rates of murder from 1973 to 1984 in states where capital punishment is abolished were constantly lower, compared to states upholding it which had an average murder rate of 63%. Based on this report, there is no any evidence of deterrence demonstrated in this case. Nevertheless, deterrence is not the only benefit that capital punishment can offer. According to Lamperti (n.d.) capital punishment offers extra protection to prison guards or police, and various states that have abolished it for regular murder uphold it for the killing of prison staff or police. However, advanced investigation on this claim demonstrates no evidence that capital punishment absence makes prison or police job more dangerous. Contrary to this claim, one survey research established that police based in states where death penalty is practiced believe that its employment enhances their safety. Fascinatingly, the same survey demonstrated that police in states where capital punishment is not practiced believes by nearly a similar margin that capital punishment absence does not add to their jobs hazards. In addition, the US citizens do not base their death penalty support on deterrence (Dezhbakhsh & Shepherd, 2006). Based on the recent poll regarding this issue 60% of the citizens disagreed on the claim that death penalty performances as a deterrent to crime commission. Instead, as pointed out by various scholars, death penalty support is more multifaceted and complex. The US polling data makes it strong that although the capital punishment has considerably declined in the recent past, there remains a central and considerably stable level of support. The death penalty all-time high support level was documented in 1994 pool where 80% of participants showed that they were in death penalty approval for murder convicts. This number declined to 65% in the recent poll and further to about 50% when respondents were provided with an option for life imprisonment without parole and death penalty. This public response has highly initiated the need for change of the law or perception on death penalty efficacy in curbing capital crimes and also its effect on the life of the affected people who include the victim and the family, as well as the offender’s family (Dieter, n.d.).

Life imprisonment is normally the maximum criminal offense punishment, with the exclusion of nations that apply death penalty for instance the U.S. Although life imprisonment has been in practice in the US for a long time, it has gain popularity in the recent past, following the abolishment of death penalty in various states. According to Penal Reform International (2007), the number of prisoners under life-sentence in the U.S. rose by 83% between 1992 and 2003. Consequently, one per every 11 prisoners in federal and state prison is currently under life imprisonment sentence. Nevertheless, the average number of those under life imprisonment is considerably high in some states that include New York, California, and Alabama where 19%, 18%, and 17% of the prisoners in these states are respectively.

Study Deficiencies

Based on the reviewed literature, the rate of death penalty is declining among all states of the United States that practice it, while the number of those in life imprisonment is rising. The literature has evaluated trend in death penalty relative to rate of capital crimes in the past. It has also highlighted various previous studies which measured the efficiency of the death penalty. Although LWOP was being practice mildly in the past, its use has highly increased with President Clinton’s human right declaration signing in 1998. However, there are no researches done to compare the rate of capital crimes before and after Clinton’s declaration, which promoted the use of LWOP over the death penalty. This paper focuses on narrowing gap regarding the effectiveness of death penalty in curbing capital crimes based on the most recent available data. Contributing to the study of death penalty effectiveness in curbing capital crimes by comparing people involvement in capital crimes before and after the popularity of LWOP has increased.

Methodology

Explanation of Data Set

The research will focus establishing the effectiveness of death penalty in curbing capital crimes. To accomplish this, a longitudinal research will be conducted where the researcher will review data from eligible secondary sources. Data will be gathered from two eligible data sites controlled by education center and the government. The two data sources will include Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics  and Bureau of Justice Statistics. The data is mostly collected in the justice system of various states by the end of every year and stored for future use. The researcher will focus on capital punishment data set giving more information on the number of execution per year in all states of the United States, number of criminals under death sentence per year in the county. This data set was chosen because it provides the statistics of various aspects of capital criminal justice procedures and outcome. Some of the provided information include total number of criminal in states and federal government were convicted to death penalty and how many of them were executed or provided other forms of sentencing. The data set contains capital crime conviction based on age, gender, race, state, and year, and thus providing a clear picture of those involved in capital crimes and those given capital punishment compared to those that are sentenced.

The main strength of the data is that it has been sourced from reliable sources that are highly viable and thus, they will be used to make a more reliable research conclusion. The other main strength is that data will be obtained without using a lot of resources that can be used when obtaining data from primary sources and the extraction time is considerably minimal. The sources also provide extensive range of data; for a number of years and thus it is easy to conduct a longitudinal analysis of the subject. The main weakness of the data set is that any data collection mistake done in primary study will be transferred to the secondary data analysis propagating the error even further. This can also result to the employment of wrong remedy to the identified problem. Another weakness is that the second researcher may be interested in various research aspects which did not interest the initial researcher and thus, limiting the second researcher ability of collecting that data.

Arrangement of Data

The data collection techniques will involves going to the selected website and searching for capital punishment or death penalty in the submenu. Once identified the link should be opened to obtain more information which is mostly provided using a pdf document. The data is presented in various tables each providing different data maybe wider than required or narrow that required. For instance, data on capital punishment for a certain year may be provided in one document in form of a table and analyzed more using line or bar graphs. In this case, the researcher will focus on obtaining the yearly data prisoner under death sentence and prisoners executed for a period of ten years which include five recent years; 2009 to 2013 and 1993 to 1997. The two groups of data will be placed in two separate tables one for each. This will ease the comparison process. There is no compressed data on capital punishment in recent years and thus, data will be obtained from different documents and combined to create the required data set.

Results

Data Analysis

The data will be compiled in two different tables one for data before the 1998 signing of human right declaration and the other one for the most recent available data on capital punishment. The two data set trend will be compared using line graphs. The main aim is to establish whether the rate of capital crime was going down when death penalty was popular or up or whether LWOP grew popular. This will assist in establishing which between the two techniques is in handling capital crime.

Data Presentation

Year

Prisoners under sentence of death

Executions under civil authority

Dispositions other than execution

1994

2890

31

112

1995

3054

56

105

1996

3219

45

99

1997

3335

74

89

1998

3540

98

112

Table1: Capital Punishment Data (Before the signing of human rights declaration) (Albany.edu, 2012).

The data clearly shows an increasing trend in the number of prisoners under sentence of death from 1994 to 1998

The execution trend in this period is demonstrated below

Year

Prisoners under sentence of death

Executions under civil authority

Dispositions other than execution

2009

3173

52

97

2010

3158

46

73

2011

3082

43

94

2012

3033

43

68

2013

2976

39

76

Table 2: Capital punishment most recent data (after the signing of human right declaration) (Bjs.gov, 2016).

Based on this data there is a negative trend on the number of individuals under sentence of death as shown below

There is also a decline in the number of those executed as shown below

Comparison Curve between the two data sets before the signing (1994-1997) and after the signing (2009-201) is as shown below

It is clear that the number of individuals under death sentence has been declining following the signing of the human right declaration and increase in popularity of life imprisonment without parole. However, when death penalty was high, the rate of those sentenced to death penalty was increasing steadily. A similar situation is experienced in the execution as shown below

Based on the two line graphs the execution rate was increasing with increase in the number of those sentense for death penalty before the sighinging of human right declaration, while the execution rate was declining following the signing of the human right declaration. The reduction of execution rate has gone hand in hand with decrease in the number of individual involved in capital crime in the country.

Conclusion

Based on the analysis it is evident that the number of those involved in capital crime was high and increasing steadily with increase in the practice of death penalty. However, this trend changed with signing of human right declaration in 1998. The current trend demonstrates a steady decline in the number of execution and also in the number of those under death sentence. This clearly shows that signing of human right declaration which promoted the use of LWOP over death penalty increased the criminal justice efficiency in curbing crimes. This shows that death penalty is not an effective way of curbing capital crimes.

References

Albany.edu. (2012). Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics online. Retrieved from < http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t6792012.pdf >

Bjs.gov. (2016). Capital punishment. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved from < http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=18 >

Chan, J., & Oxley, D. (2004). The deterrent effect of capital punishment: A review of the research evidence. Crime and Justice Bulletin, 84, 1-15.

Dezhbakhsh, H., & Shepherd, J. M. (2006). The deterrent effect of capital punishment: Evidence from a “judicial expert”. Economic Inquiry, 44(3), 512-535.

Dieter, R. C. (2007). The status of the death penalty in the United States. European Parliament, 1-11

Dieter, R. C. (n.d.). The death penalty and human rights: U.S. death penalty and international law. Oxford Round Table, 1-34. Retrieved from < http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/files/pdf/Oxfordpaper.pdf >

Lamperti, J. (n.d.). Does capital punishment deter murder? Retrieved from < https://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/teaching_aids/books_articles/JLpaper.pdf>

Marcus, P. (2007). Capital punishment in the United States, and beyond. Faculty Publications. Paper 61. Retrieved from < http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1068&context=facpubs>

Penal Reform International. (2007). Alternatives to the death penalty: The problems with life imprisonment. Retrieved from < https://www.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/brf-01-2007-life-imprisonment-en_0.pdf>