The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: Evidence from a "Judicial Experiment" |
| |
| Authors: | Hashem Dezhbakhsh Joanna M. Shepherd |
| |
| Affiliation: | Dezhbakhsh:;Professor, Economics Department, Emory University, 1602 Fishburne Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322-2240. Phone 1-404-727-4679, Fax 404-727-3082, E-mail Shepherd:;Assistant Professor, Emory University, School of Law, Gambrell Hall, Atlanta, GA 30322-2240. Phone 404-727-8957, Fax 404-727-6820, E-mail |
| |
| Abstract: | We use panel data for 50 states during the 1960–2000 period to examine the deterrent effect of capital punishment, using the moratorium as a "judicial experiment." We compare murder rates immediately before and after changes in states' death penalty laws, drawing on cross-state variations in the timing and duration of the moratorium. The regression analysis supplementing the before-and-after comparisons disentangles the effect of lifting the moratorium on murder from the effect of actual executions on murder. Results suggest that capital punishment has a deterrent effect, and that executions have a distinct effect which compounds the deterrent effect of merely (re)instating the death penalty. The finding is robust across 96 regression models. (JEL C1, K1) |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
