Some proponents of capital punishment hold that the death penalty is a deterrent to violent crime. However, prominent voices express doubt that capital punishment deters violent offenders.


Ohio Judge Doubts that that the death penalty is a deterrent

“It’s not a deterrent one wit. Nobody thinks, ‘I’m not going to kill this person because I might get the death penalty.’ They’re in the throes of something, and they’re not thinking about that.”

– Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Stratton

Several studies question whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent or not in Ohio. In 2012, the National Research Council reviewed more than three decades of research and concluded that studies claiming a deterrent effect on murder rates from the death penalty are fundamentally flawed. In 2005, a study by the League of Women Voters of Ohio concluded that the death penalty does not act as a deterrent to violent offenders.


See The Studies:

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