Mark Twain one said, “Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated”. From this excellent article by Craig S. Lerner in the Claremont Review of Books, it would appear that the rumor of the the death of the death penalty are also greatly exaggerated. Is there a role for the death penalty in the 21st century? Is it revenge or barbaric or a statement of the ultimately belief in the value of human life and an orderly society?
Perhaps we often ask the wrong question; instead of asking, “is the death penalty a deterrent”, perhaps we should be asking, “is the lack of a death penalty an incentive to killing”. The nations with the highest murder rates (17 of 20 nations) are in Latin America which have repudiated the death penalty. When the elimination of the death penalty is put on a ballot, even in California, it is routinely defeated. This interesting article provides us excellent information for discussion. https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/is-the-death-penalty-dead/
