William Tucker

William Tucker is a New York–based freelance writer and the author of Excluded Americans: Homelessness and Housing Policy. In the following viewpoint Tucker argues that the death penalty is an effective deterrent against murder. He maintains that the rise in murder rates from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s is due in part to states’ limited use of the death penalty during this period, and that the decline in murder rates since 1993 is partly due to a rise in the use of capital punishment. Without the death penalty, Tucker argues, criminals are more likely to murder the witnesses to their crimes, but the fear of capital punishment causes them to think twice.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. During what year did all states temporarily cease executions?
2. During what period did the...