I do not know if you are being intentionally obtuse or not, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. We are talking about punishment for murder, specifically whether the death penalty is a deterrent compared to life imprisonment. You keep changing that into a different question: whether harsher punishments are generally more of a deterrent than milder punishments. That's not the same argument. If your argument is simply that five years is less of a deterrent than life imprisonment, I doubt many would disagree. The actual question is whether executing murderers reduces murder more effectively than imprisoning them for life. That is the point that has been studied extensively, and the point on which the evidence remains disputed. If you seriously cannot find the plethora of studies to read in this area then frankly you are debating in bad faith. You will find, if you look, a large body of work that suggests for serious crimes the probability of getting caught is more of a deterrent than punishment. I'd suggest then that your quoted odds regarding possibility of prosecution of 4 in 10 is more significant (though I have no idea if you just made that up or not). Certainly, many criminals often think they will get away with it; most pre-meditated murders often have a plan exactly for this, hence the ever expanding true crime section on Netlfix. Other murders, committed in rage or other moments of lost control, simply will be unaffected by any deterrence. By the way Yellowtail, I am not a 'leftist' and have no ideological hat in the ring. I base my beliefs on the evidence, or lack thereof. I am open to changing my mind [shock:horror] if new evidence comes to light. I have yet to see any that convinces me that the death penalty is more of a deterrent than life imprisonment. BarraMarra makes some fair points above, yet it is all based on emotion, albeit understandably so in some of the extreme cases quoted. Yet, I read a lot of derogatory words on here for places in the world where we often hear about emotive justice being carried out - lynchings, stonings, honour killings etc. I believe emotion should be removed from law, though that is my opinion and might place me in the minority. I also believe there is not one legal system in the world which has not made mistakes - be they unintentional, negligent or maliciously led, and every one of those legal systems will make mistakes again. Furthermore, I do think that if you were to impose an irreversible sentence such as death, and given mistakes will be made, you must offer the accused every legal avenue to prove their innocence. In developed countries, that is often as costly as keeping someone in prison for life. [I'd agree that we should look at life sentences meaning life sentences, but that's a different debate entirely.] Finally, for me, I think a life sentence is as harsh a punishment as death - that's just my opinion. Others will have a different opinion. That's fine, indeed it's healthy. It's a shame some on here don't want proper discussion or for others to voice their opinions, just because they are different. [For clarity the last paragraph is not aimed at you Yellowtail]
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