Monday Map: Death is Not a Deterrent

The map above shows the number of executions in each state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. There have been 1,155 executions nationwide in those three-plus decades. In the same time, there have been 590,000 murders. That means if all things were equal (geography, race and socioeconomic level of the defendant, etc), each murder would carry a .02% chance of execution. Only two murders in 1,000 are punished by execution. If you believe the death penalty is a deterrent, don't forward this post to a potential murderer - they might figure out that the chances of lethal injection are slim, and then who knows what they'll do.

Of course, all things aren't equal and some populations have a much greater chance of being executed. But that's another story.

The Denver Post ran this map recently following a vote in the Colorado House to repeal the state's death penalty and divert the millions of dollars spent each year on capital cases to the investigation of unsolved murders. Colorado is an extreme example of the ineffectiveness of spending on the death penalty, the state has only executed one person since 1976, but has 1,000 unsolved murders and not enough resources to investigate them.

The Colorado bill is now before the state Senate, and its fate is unknown. Change.org community member William Newmiller started an action to support the repeal the death penalty in Colorado, it needs just 56 more senders to reach its goal. Send an email today.