The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: Evidence from a "Judicial Experiment"
Posted: 29 Feb 2008
Emory University - Department of Economics
Emory University School of Law
Date Written: July 2006
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)
Suggested Citation:
Suggested Citation
Dezhbakhsh, Hashem and Shepherd, Joanna, The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: Evidence from a "Judicial Experiment" (July 2006). Economic Inquiry, Vol. 44, Issue 3, pp. 512-535, 2006. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1095598 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ei/cbj032
