Reply #6: I sincerely doubt that. [View All]

[RaleighNCDUer]

Nobody commits murder with the expectation of being caught, so logically the penalty does not weigh into the murder.

Do you really think they think "They won't execute me, so I might as well kill -- at worst I'm going to die at 78 in a penitentiary"?

Study after study has shown that the DP is not a deterrent, that, in fact, those states which have the DP have higher murder rates than those which do not. To "ask the murderers" is nonsense -- because you are asking those who have been caught to make rational sense of what they did while it was an inherently irrational act, IOW, rationalize in hindsight. And face it, most murderers aren't exactly the brightest bulbs on the marquee, and rationalizing is not their strong point.