Annotated Bibliography

Taylor Jr, S. (2011). Does the Death Penalty Save Innocent Lives?. NAT’L J., 33, 1551.

In his article, Taylor examines the notion that death penalty is a preventive measure that helps law officers send an assertive stance to the public that there is no escaping from ‘justice’. However the writer argues that given the wide publicity, the very idea of deterrence would be at risk; he is further discouraged by the statistics of low deterrence. He is, then, buoyed by positive statistics from three Emory University economists, who argued that each execution will prevent at least 18, and at best 28, future murders. He goes on to make further analyses on the relative merits of the costs involved in execution and life imprisonment, and finally concludes that the death penalty is the apt punishment for taking lives.