The death penalty as a form of punishment

Abstract

It can be argued that the death penalty is the most severe form of punishment. This dissertation aims to shed light on whether the death penalty deters homicides and mostly makes use of the United States as the main scope for the purposes of this research. This research looked at the history of the death penalty in both the United States and Malta and the main arguments presented both in favour and against the death penalty. This study also looked at past deterrence studies in the United States, in which several researchers found a deterrent effect while others didn’t. Specific cases from Malta were also investigated which show that at times the death penalty can be unfair, brutal and ineffective. It can be concluded that further thorough studies need to be conducted on this subject before a definitive conclusion can be reached, this is due to several factors that can influence deterrence such as: the wait on death row, crimes of passion, the infrequency and uncertainty of the death penalty and other uncontrollable factors such as income and unemployment rates.