Michael Davis

About the author: Michael Davis is senior research associate at the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Davis has published many articles, including two dozen on criminal justice, and is the author of the books To Make the Punishment Fit the Crime and Justice in the Shadow of Death: Rethinking Capital and Lesser Punishments, from which this viewpoint is taken.

Deterrence is central to the debate over the death penalty. Those opposed to the death penalty cite social science statistics to prove that homicide rates are not effected by capital punishment. Those in favor of the death penalty argue that it is common sense that criminals, because they fear death more than any other punishment, will be deterred by the threat of death. Common sense...