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States Without the Death Penalty Have Lower Homicide Rates

By Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing

An article in today's New York Times explains that, "the dozen states that have chosen not to enact the death penalty since the Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that it was constitutionally permissible have not had higher homicide rates than states with the death penalty." In fact, the 12 states without the death penalty have homicide rates lower than the national average. The article also reports that "in a state-by- state analysis, The Times found that during the last 20 years, the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48 percent to 101 percent higher than in states without the death penalty."This article focuses on states without the death penalty and includes commentary from insiders working within those state systems. This article is a great read for anyone who wants to understand the failures of this system in preventing violent crime...continue to full post

Full post as published by tcask:: on the road (to abolition) on December 16, 2009 (boomark / email).