December 14, 2007

Debating the Impact of the Death Penalty

Compiled by EVAN R. GOLDSTEIN

Is the death penalty an effective deterrent against future homicides? That question has assumed fresh urgency since the U.S. Supreme Court recently imposed a de facto moratorium on executions while it considers the legality of lethal injections (Baze v. Rees). Though nearly a dozen studies have appeared in the last few years purporting to show that capital punishment saves lives, few have triggered the sort of sharp condemnation that greeted a recent opinion article by two scholars from

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