Murders of Passion, Execution Delays, and the Deterrence of Capital Punishment

Abstract:     
I examine two important questions in the capital punishment literature: What kinds of murders are deterred and what effect the length of the death row wait has on deterrence? To answer these questions, I analyze data unused in the capital punishment literature: monthly murder and execution data. If capital punishment's deterrent impact is short-lived, as some researchers have suggested, then monthly data should measure deterrence better than the annual data of most papers. Results from least squares and negative binomial estimations indicate that capital punishment does deter: each execution results in, on average, five fewer murders. In addition, capital punishment deters all kinds of murders, even crimes of passion and murders by intimates. Moreover, murders of both black and white victims decrease after executions. This suggests that, even if the application of capital punishment is racist, the benefits of capital punishment are not. However, longer waits on death row before execution lessen the deterrence. Specifically, one less murder is committed for every four-and-a-half month reduction in death row waits. Thus, recent legislation to shorten the wait on death row should strengthen capital punishment's deterrent effect.

JEL Classifications: K0, K4, C1

Accepted Paper Series