4.1 Capital Punishment

• The death penalty in the UK?


  in the uk there was a trial abolition of the death penalty from 1965.

  This do not result in an increase in the murder rate so it was completely abolished in 1969.
• Why might it not be useful?


  Research suggests a death penalty does not reduce the murder rate. In the UK, when a temporary abolition was trialled in 1965, it did not affect the murder rate showing the death penalty was not a deterrence.

  In the USA, where death penalties exist, there is no less murder rates than in states where the death penalty does not exist. This suggests that this not an effective method for dealing with offending.
• Why might it be useful?


  If offending is genetic and therefore cannot be prevented or changed in an individual, this would make capital punishment effective as it would remove the threat from society.