Deck 7: General Deterrence and the Death Penalty

Question 1

According to a 2011 national opinion poll, what percent of respondents thought that the death penalty could deter crime?

A) 10
B) 25
C) 32
D) 65
E) 80

Answer 1

C

Question 2

According to a 2014 national opinion poll, what percent of respondents chose deterrence as a reason for supporting the death penalty?

A) about 6
B) about 26
C) about 48
D) about 73
E) about 92

Answer 2

A

Question 3

When was the death penalty first shown by sophisticated statistical methods to be a deterrent to murder, and who was the researcher?

A) 1974, Yunker
B) 1975, Ehrlich
C) 1973, Cloninger
D) 1976, Layson
E) none of the above

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following was a problem with or criticism of the first study that purportedly showed a statistically significant deterrent effect?

A) the failure to compare the effectiveness of capital punishment with that of particular prison terms
B) the finding that the deterrent effect does not hold if the years between 1965 and 1969 are omitted from the statistical model
C) the use of aggregate United States data which ignores important regional differences
D) the failure to consider the possible influences of racial discord, the Vietnam conflict, the sexual revolution, and increased handgun ownership
E) all of the above are problems or criticisms

Question 5

How many of the 95 deterrence studies reviewed by economics professor Bijou Yang and psychology professor David Lester found a deterrent effect of capital punishment?

A) 0
B) 10
C) 35
D) 60
E) 80

Question 6

How many death row inmates since 1976 have voluntarily given up their appeals because they preferred death to LWOP?

A) 0
B) fewer than 10
C) between 25 and 50
D) between 50 and 100
E) more than 100

Question 7

Which of the following was not a finding of Professor Land and his colleagues' death penalty deterrence study of homicides in Texas from January 1994 through December 2005?

A) there is a modest, short-term deterrent effect on homicides in Texas in the months of or after executions
B) for executions to have any deterrent effect a large number of executions must be conducted-more executions than any other executing state but Texas
C) most of any deterrent effect of executions on homicides occurs soon after the execution is announced
D) based on ten to twenty executions a year and using the .5 homicides per month deterred, five to ten homicides would be deterred per year
E) all of the above were findings

Question 8

Which of the following is not a counterargument to studies that show no deterrent effect of the death penalty?

A) the value of the deterrence studies is seriously diminished by the unreliability of the statistical evidence used because those who are, in fact, deterred by the threat of the death penalty and do not commit murder are not included in the statistical data
B) most law enforcement officials continue to favor capital punishment because they believe it is an effective deterrent to violent crime
C) because the homicide rate increased as the number of executions decreased from the mid-1960s through the 1970s, there must be a general deterrent effect
D) the death penalty's deterrent effect has been reduced to nothing in recent years and, thus, does not show up in the research because it has not been imposed often or quickly enough to have the desired effect
E) all of the above are counterarguments

Question 9

Which of the following assumptions about deterrence theory is questionable or debatable, especially with regard to the death penalty?

A) that more severe penalties are more deterrent than less severe penalties
B) that potential offenders exercise rational judgment in deciding whether to kill
C) that potential offenders are predictably sensitive to the actual range of variation in certainty of legal punishment for murder at the time of the decision to act
D) that potential offenders are predictably sensitive to the actual range of variation in severity of legal punishment for murder at the time of the decision to act
E) all of the above

Question 10

General deterrence refers to the belief that people in general can be prevented from engaging in crime by punishing specific individuals and making examples of them.

Question 11

At one time, general deterrence was the reason cited most often when people were asked why they supported the death penalty.

Question 12

Research shows that a majority of death penalty supporters would change their opinion if it were proven to them that their belief in general deterrence was wrong.

Question 13

According to Philosopher Ernest Van den Haag, "Our penal system rests on the proposition that more severe penalties are more deterrent than less severe penalties." Therefore, argues Van den Haag, "The most severe penalty --the death penalty--would have the greatest deterrent effect."

Question 14

In England during the 18th century, jury nullification was a major problem in the administration of justice.

Question 15

Cesare Beccaria, the 18th century philosopher whose ideas are the basis of much of the criminal justice process in the United States today, claimed that capital punishment is probably a greater deterrent than life imprisonment.

Question 16

Abolitionists maintain that the important question is not whether capital punishment is the severest punishment, but rather what punishment should be the severest allowed by law.

Question 17

Research shows conclusively that the death penalty has a marginal deterrent effect.

Question 18

Professor Sellin found that the availability of capital punishment reduced the rate of police killings.

Question 19

Research shows that prison staff members and inmates are safer in prisons in death penalty states than in prisons in abolition states.

Question 20

Studies of changes in murder rates before and after abolition and/or reinstatement of the death penalty show that abolition and/or reintroduction of the death penalty was sometimes followed by an increase in the murder rate and sometimes not.

Question 21

Research reveals a short-term decrease in murder rates following a highly publicized execution.

Question 22

Testifying before Congress in 2003, Economics Professor Joanna Shepherd remarked that there is a "strong consensus among economists that capital punishment deters crime" and that "the studies are unanimous."

Question 23

Evidence from studies of the long-term effect on murder rates of highly publicized executions and death sentences supports the general deterrent effect of the death penalty.

Question 24

According to the author of your textbook, the real issue about deterrence is not whether the death penalty deters potential murderers, but rather whether the death penalty deters potential murderers to a greater degree than alternative non-capital punishments such as life imprisonment.

Question 25

According to a study by Sarah Dike, capital punishment proved an effective deterrent to gangland killings in Chicago during the period 1919-1968.

Question 26

Research shows that capital punishment deters some non-capital crimes.

Question 27

Research shows that states with few executions tend to have increased homicide rates and those with more executions tend to have reduced homicide rates.

Question 28

Killings inside prisons are most often committed by convicted murderers.

Question 29

In 1989, following a comprehensive review of death penalty research by a panel of distinguished scholars, the American Society of Criminology, the largest association of criminologists in the nation, passed a resolution condemning capital punishment and calling for its abolition. Among the reasons for the Society's position was the absence of consistent evidence of crime deterrence through execution.

Question 30

A recent survey of 67 current and past presidents of the top three criminology professional organizations-the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Law and Society Association-found that about 80 percent of them believe that the death penalty is a more effective deterrent to homicide than is long imprisonment.

Question 31

If executions are to achieve deterrence, would-be killers must identify with criminals who are executed. On the other hand, if executions brutalize, would-be killers must identify their victims with executed criminals and themselves with state-sanctioned executioners.

Question 32

Most police chiefs believe that the death penalty is an effective deterrent to violent crime.

Question 33

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, a death penalty opponent, wrote, "Of course, the death penalty deters some crimes. That's why you have to pay more for a hit man in a death penalty state, than a non-death penalty state."

Question 34

According to Professor Bowers, executions may stimulate homicides by the psychology of suggestion or imitation.