It's not an issue of whether some people deserve to die
or not. The issue is whether having the death penalty
or not saves more lives. And as usual, it's not as
simple as it looks at first.

The effects of the death penalty as a deterrent have
been well argued (somebody might rob you, but if they
know they will die if they get caught, they won't be
as quick to shoot you in order to keep you from
identifying them). If you look at an annual graph
with the number of murders per state overlaid with
the number of executions, there is a stunning inverse
correspondence.

For me, the bottom line is which one saves more lives.
Anyone who is interested in really thinking about whether
the death penalty is the right solution should consider
that beyond what it makes happen, there is a lot that
doesn't happen because of it.

F