There are two basic arguments favoring capital punishment. The first argument focuses on doing justice, on ensuring that the punishment fits the crime. The second argument emphasizes capital punishment as a deterrent to other members of the community who might commit crimes in the future.
Although the evidence in this country is confusing about the deterrent effect of capital punishment, some writers argue that the experience of other countries indicates that capital punishment can be quite effective in deterring certain kinds of crimes.
For example, Kaminsky (1985) talked about the situation in Saudi Arabia in which capital punishment is clearly prescribed for certain crimes. There is no long appeal process as in the United States. The prisoner is simply executed if found guilty. She noted that people in that country applaud their system of justice and that they believe capital punishment helps keep their country relatively crime free. Certainly Saudi Arabia has a much lower crime rate for capital crimes than does the United States. It is not clear, however, that capital punishment in the United States would operate in the same manner as capital punishment in Saudi Arabia. It is also not clear that it is capital punishment that deters Saudi Arabians from committing more murders, rapes, and drug crimes. It may simply be that the cultural socialization they receive in their society is more effective in deterring criminal behavior.
However, there is some indirect, or inferential, evidence in the United States that capital punishment deters the commission of specific crimes. George Pataki (1997) claimed that the restoration of the death penalty in New York state led to the decline in violent crime in New York state. Violent crime actually declined by 23% after the death penalty was restored in 1995.
Pataki noted that part of the problem of the i
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