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Isaac Ehrlich On Capital Punishment

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Capital punishment has been a very diverse and controversial argument between right and wrong in social and political American culture. Some of these arguments include retribution or justice for the crime committed, deterrence of future crimes, and prevention of future crimes from that individual. Prevention of future crimes differs from deterrence because the prevention of future crimes is focused on preventing the same individual from committing future crimes. Contrarily, deterrence focuses on preventing other individuals in society from committing not only the crime being punished for, but also, any other crime. In this paper, I will focus on the argument of deterrence. Although the research done by pro-death penalty supporters, like Isaac Ehrlich, dates back to the 1970’s, the argument presented for the deterrence factor of capital punishment is unaffected by time. Isaac Ehrlich concluded that future would-be murderers would make a decision between illegal and legal, (right and wrong) behavior based on the threat of execution. I suggest capital punishment doesn't deter people from committing serious violent crimes. The thing that deters is the likelihood of being caught and punished.
Ehrlich was one …show more content…
In the past multiple researchers have attempted to replicate Ehrlich’s results without success. The complexity and time length of Ehrlich’s experiment is likely the reason that other researchers are having difficulties producing the same results. Because on the conflicting results and outcomes, then the argument for the proponents of capital punishment becomes opposite for which they intend. If you are unable to conclude that you are taking the criminals life to help a greater number of people, then it would be a “wrong” action and on the same as committing

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