On 2012-02-15 7:57 AM, Ralph Holz wrote:
You kno, I can't help but think of the resemblance to the real world death penalty for humans - AFAICT it does not seem to deter criminals.
James A. Donald:
Singapore has approximately one hundredth to one thousandth the crime rate of western democracies - near zero rapes, and dramatically fewer murders. Not only is their lower class law abiding, their bankers and bureaucrats, unlike ours are also law abiding. From which it is evident that the death penalty *does* deter, both for institutions and individuals.
Ralph Holz
May I, just for reasons of comparison, have the same numbers for the US, especially the states with a death penalty, and the UK and/or DE?
Although several US states theoretically have the death penalty pro forma, no US states have the death penalty in actual practice, nor have they had the death penalty to any extent likely to deter anyone throughout most of the twentieth century. Even prisoners that get sick of jail and demand execution are apt to be old men before they get it.
For a valid comparison, need to compare the US today with the US in 1910, or the US today with Singapore today, or Saudi Arabia today, or China today.
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