Abramovaite, J., Bandyopadhyay, S., Bhattacharya, S., & Cowen, N. (2022). Classical deterrence theory revisited: An empirical analysis of Police Force Areas in England and Wales. European Journal of Criminology, 1-18. Web.
It is believed that deterrence works best when punishment is severe, certain, and swift. The three deterrence components, however, have never been examined in an empirical model, and swiftness is infrequently taken into account in empirical investigations of criminal conduct, which is the scope of the current article. Researchers discovered that whereas burglary and violent offenses are not affected by variations in how quickly a sentence is applied, stealing offenses are (Abramovaite et al., 2022). Only the burglary rate decreases when the average severity of sentences increases (Abramovaite et al., 2022). This article is beneficial for future research due to its rich theoretical potential regarding deterrence theory and its impact on crime levels.
Jouet, M. (2022). Death penalty abolitionism from the Enlightenment to modernity. American Journal of Comparative Law. Web.
The article demonstrates how reformers in the past employed a polyvalent vocabulary integrating humanistic and practical concerns against executions. It does this by drawing on sources usually ignored by scholars, including the opinions of former American and French abolitionists. This long-term evolution of humanistic standards can be linked to the Enlightenment and Renaissance. If not for several social changes, America might have continued to converge with Europe in implementing norms of humanistic punishment over time (Jouet, 2022). This article will be beneficial for future research both due to its causal approach to attitudes toward the death penalty and the contrast between the American and European systems.
Pereboom, D. (2020). Incapacitation, reintegration, and limited general deterrence. Neuroethics, 13(1), 87-97. Web.
This article aims to present a theory for dealing with criminals that rejects the use of justifying retribution for punishment, does not violate a tenable ban on using individuals solely as tools, and really functions in daily life. Free will skepticism can serve as inspiration for the theory, but it can also be accepted outside of its framework because retributivism has ethical problems of its own (Pereboom, 2020). Overall, the article is rich with theoretical information surrounding the death penalty debate. It will prove useful to future research due to its persuasive justification of harsher penalties necessary for improving general deterrence rates.
Rancourt, M. A., Ouellet, C., & Dufresne, Y. (2020). Is the death penalty debate really dead? Contrasting capital punishment support in Canada and the United States. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 20(1), 536-562. Web.
This article examines the underlying value systems that influence current pro-death penalty sentiments in Canada and the United States by using data from the Canadian Election Study (2015) and the American National Election Survey (2016). According to the findings, pro-death penalty attitudes in both countries should be best understood as a component of the “law and order syndrome” (Rancourt et al., 2020). In the U. S., partisan divide can also be seen in how people feel about the death sentence (Rancourt et al., 2020). The article’s main strength lies in its comparative approach – the contrast between the two systems allows for a more comprehensive outline of underlying reasons for and against the death penalty. In future research, it can be used to argue the scale of the impact of deterrence.
Roberts, D. (2022). Capital punishment and the case for abolition. UWL Journal of Undergraduate Research XXII, 1-6.
The purpose of this article is to examine the federal death sentence in the United States. The actual use of the death sentence is unquestionably unjust and immoral, but it also violates people’s rights, has a history of discrimination, and has a significant impact on the global community. For this reason, capital punishment is seriously flawed, and urgent efforts should be made to quickly eliminate it by both citizens and elected officials (Roberts, 2022). The article will be of great use for future research due to its elaborations on deterrence theory, particularly in the way it fails to reflect the modern reality of criminal justice.
Steiker, C. S., & Steiker, J. M. (2020). The rise, fall, and afterlife of the death penalty in the United States. Annual Review of Criminology, 3, 299-315. Web.
This analysis discusses four significant concerns regarding the use of the death penalty in the United States now (post-1976). In particular, it focuses on reasons for the historical retention of the death sentence, the role of race in the discourse, reasons for the punishment’s contemporary decline, and the potential impact of its abolishment. The authors state that the death sentence in America is dwindling, which reflects its growing conflict with moral norms and undermines its capacity to fulfill any deterring goal required to support its continued use (Steiker & Steiker, 2020). This article is particularly useful for future research due to its causal approach to the matter, illustrating the history of the death penalty as a continuum.