The Death Penalty Acts as an Effective Deterrent in Other Western Countries

The deterrent factor of the death penalty is another cogent argument in favour of Capital Punishment. Capital Punishment acts as a deterrent for violent crimes and there is an indisputable correlation between number of executions in the USA and number of murders. In 1964 the USA executed 56 violent offenders and had 9140 murders nationally. In 1966 the number of executions in the USA totalled just 15 executions and saw 9250 domestic murders. By 1969 the USA had no executions and saw a huge jump in murders totalling 14590 murders. Six years later, after a country’s hiatus from the death penalty the number of murders in the USA hit 20510 murders. From 1965 to 1980 the USA saw their murder rate per 100 000 people double from 5.1 to 10.2. This irrefutable evidence is just another one of the reasons why the Canadian judicial system should implement the death penalty. 

These few years were no outliers in the overall studies and it is proven that the death penalty does have a strong inverse relationship with murder rates in the U.S.A. With Canada's high recidivism rate to indicate a less than effective rehabilitation program we see cases like Robert Chaulk being released following murder charges and murdering 2 more people on New Year's Day. Murders like this can be prevented if Canada reinstated Capital Punishment. 

The death penalty is a warning, just like a lighthouse throwing its beams out to sea. We hear about shipwrecks, but we do not hear about the ships the lighthouse guides safely on their way. We do not have proof of the number of ships it saves, but we do not tear the lighthouse down.  - poet Hyman Barshay