False Deterrent? An Analysis of Death Penalty Filings in Pennsylvania.

• In Event: The Death Penalty: Ideology, Attitudes, and Justifications

Abstract

Prior research has found mixed evidence, at best, on the presence of any deterrent effect associated with capital punishment, explicitly in studies 1) following executions or 2) involving the wider presence of death penalty statutes. To this end, it would help to not only take stock of where the current literature lies, but more closely investigate the initial components of capital sentencing, specifically with regard to prosecutorial decisions to seek capital punishment. As such, this paper seeks to analyze the effect of prosecutors’ death penalty filings on county homicide rates, focusing on Pennsylvania. Using multivariate analysis of longitudinal data on homicides between the years 2000-2010, I aim to assess if, at its initial onset, prosecutors’ seeking the death penalty yields any measurable association with deterrence. Given the contemporary shift towards capital moratoriums and the absence of executions within Pennsylvania, such an analysis is warranted.

Author

• Ethan Michael Galley, Pennsylvania State University