Blog Post #46: The Death Penalty

The death penalty was abolished at the federal level and in most states in the 1980s after research in 70s and 80s shoed that the death penalty was not a detterent for the commission of murder or rape. However, it was reinstated at the federal level in some states in the early 1990s. Why was that? The argument to reinstate it was that it is in a fact a deterrent, yet the research has shown clearly it is not. Despite these statistics, it is used frequently in a number of states such as Florida and Texas. Proponents of its use continue to argue that it is a deterrent, although current research supports the research of the 70s and 80s that it is not. 

If the country is going to continue to use it, we need to stop lying to ourselves and to the public and admit the actual reasoning behind continuing its usage: it is an act of vengeance which I thought was the province of the Lord, not of human beings. 

In Maine, the death penalty was abolished in the mid - 1800s. There have been a few efforts to reinstate it in Maine, but all have failed. Most murder in Maine occur in disputes between husbands and wives. In Maine the murder rate is very low. If we want to do more about deterring people from committing murder we need to focus on preventing domestic violence, not on reinstating or carrying out the death penalty.

Ron Breazeale PhD

Clinical Psychologist