Following the release of a new study pub­lished in the Journal of Adolescent Health con­cern­ing the fail­ure of deter­rence in drug use, med­ical experts com­ment­ed that deter­rence also fails in the area of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. ​“It is very clear that deter­rents are not effec­tive in the area of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment,” said Dr. Jonathan Groner, an asso­ciate pro­fes­sor of surgery at Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health who research­es the deter­rent effect of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. ​“The psy­cho­log­i­cal mind-set of the crim­i­nal is such that they are not able to con­sid­er con­se­quences at the time of the crime. Most crimes are crimes of pas­sion that are done in sit­u­a­tions involv­ing intense excite­ment or con­cern. People who com­mit these crimes are not in a nor­mal state of mind — they do not con­sid­er the con­se­quences in a log­i­cal way,” Groner observed. Deterrents may work in instances where the pun­ish­ment is obvi­ous and imme­di­ate, nei­ther of which are true for the death penalty.

Experts sug­gest that crim­i­nal behav­ior and the nation’s mur­der rate may best be curbed by address­ing the envi­ron­men­tal and social fac­tors that con­tribute to vio­lent crime. Groner explains, ​“The mur­der rate is most close­ly asso­ci­at­ed with the socioe­co­nom­ic health of the coun­try. The mur­der rate in the U.S. was high­est dur­ing the Depression. Also, the major­i­ty of peo­ple on death row are from the most blight­ed parts of the U.S. They are very poor and very impov­er­ished. A very high per­cent­age have men­tal health prob­lems. Good access to health care and improv­ing the socioe­co­nom­ic health of our coun­try’s cities would reduce the mur­der rate more effec­tive­ly than exe­cu­tions.” Dr. Carlyle Chan, a pro­fes­sor of pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment at the Medical College of Wisconsin, adds that many peo­ple believe they can cheat the sys­tem and get away with their ille­gal behav­iors, which lessens the deter­rent impact of a specific punishment.

The youth-study’s author, Dr. Diane Elliot, is a pro­fes­sor of med­i­cine at the Oregon Health and Science University. She exam­ined the deter­rent impact of ran­dom drug test­ing in high school ath­letes.
(ABC News, October 22, 2007). See Deterrence and Studies.

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