In the article Does the Death Penalty Deter, the authors, Donohue and Wolfers, examine whether or not capital punishment is a deterrent of murderers in the United States. The article dismisses the claim that the death penalty is successful in lowering crime rates.
The authors of the article designed a study based off of a previous one done in the 1970’s; however, they changed some of the variables. The study they based their work off of was done by an economist named Isaac Ehrlich. Ehrlich’s study concluded that the death penalty was a successful deterrent of crime from 1935-1969. However, Donohue and Wolfers argue that Ehrlich did not successfully consider all possible variables for the changes in the homicide rate. Donohue and Wolfers’
The authors of the article designed a study based off of a previous one done in the 1970’s; however, they changed some of the variables. The study they based their work off of was done by an economist named Isaac Ehrlich. Ehrlich’s study concluded that the death penalty was a successful deterrent of crime from 1935-1969. However, Donohue and Wolfers argue that Ehrlich did not successfully consider all possible variables for the changes in the homicide rate. Donohue and Wolfers’