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The justification and existence of the death penalty is an extremely difficult subject for many of us to rationalize. Is it right to sentence anyone to execution for their crimes in a seemingly civilized society? And, if death by any unnatural cause is classed as a "wrong", does the execution of a murderer balance out the equation, or prove that "2 wrongs don't make a right"? Society's conscience has long wrestled with this argument, hence the constant questioning of its existence as part of the criminal justice system. As I will argue, I believe that this procrastination does affect its value as a deterrent and how effective the death penalty is.

This issue does not ask whether the death penalty is right, or whether it should exist because of the possibility of a miscarriage of justice, but whether it acts as a deterrent against serious, murderous, crime. Hence, we are not looking at society's conscience here, but at the conscience and mental activities of the criminals themselves, and whether the existence of the death penalty actually STOPS them from carrying out their crime.

When you look at the matter from this perspective then the answer is a resounding no!

You only have to look at the prison population and the serious crime rates to see that this is true. If the prospect of execution was a true deterrent then the cells on Death Row would be empty, and the crime rates for the crimes that they have committed would be virtually zero. The threat of death does not stop these criminals from committing their crimes, so it does not act as a deterrent.

The question is why?

The answer seems to be in the motives of the crime and the personal beliefs of the criminal.

Many murderous crimes are carried out without rational thought, or maybe even intention. The individual acts without thought of the consequences of his or her actions and pulls the trigger or uses the blade to kill. Crimes of passion or anger are obvious cases in point, but the threat of execution is by no means a deterrent to the act being committed. At that moment in time the "red mist" has descended and the crime WILL happen.

At completely the other end of the scale, anyone acting for "a cause" will not be swayed by the subsequent threat of execution. They will, completely contrary to the point above, act in the full knowledge of potential death, but will feel that the act they are about to commit, for the cause that they believe in, justifies the "sacrifice".

In both cases

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