The National Research Council stated that “studies claiming that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on murder rates are ‘fundamentally flawed’ and should not be used when making policy decisions” (“Facts about the Death Penalty”, 2016). If this is so, how can the death penalty be rationalized? According to the research, it is not beneficial in any way and therefore should be abolished as a practice. An outspoken protestor of the death penalty, John Paul Stevens, a retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice, “criticized the death penalty as a ‘wasteful enterprise’” (Sanger, 2016). He states that “continuing to prosecute capital cases [is] "unacceptable," saying the expense of capital trials is ‘particularly outrageous in light of the lack of evidence supporting the death penalty’s purported justifications…Citing the wrongful execution of Carlos Deluna, ‘a man who was unquestionably innocent of murder,’ as an example of the "ever-present potential for mistake,’ Stevens said, ‘it is time to put an end to irrevocable and mistaken state action of that kind’” (Sanger,
The National Research Council stated that “studies claiming that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on murder rates are ‘fundamentally flawed’ and should not be used when making policy decisions” (“Facts about the Death Penalty”, 2016). If this is so, how can the death penalty be rationalized? According to the research, it is not beneficial in any way and therefore should be abolished as a practice. An outspoken protestor of the death penalty, John Paul Stevens, a retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice, “criticized the death penalty as a ‘wasteful enterprise’” (Sanger, 2016). He states that “continuing to prosecute capital cases [is] "unacceptable," saying the expense of capital trials is ‘particularly outrageous in light of the lack of evidence supporting the death penalty’s purported justifications…Citing the wrongful execution of Carlos Deluna, ‘a man who was unquestionably innocent of murder,’ as an example of the "ever-present potential for mistake,’ Stevens said, ‘it is time to put an end to irrevocable and mistaken state action of that kind’” (Sanger,