QUOTE: “Citing a high murder rate
in Texas makes as little sense as citing Michigan or the District of Columbia -
both places with much higher than average murder rate - as examples of how. Comparing
the United States with other countries is equally pointless. There are very
stable countries like Switzerland or Japan with low murder rates (one has the
death penalty, the other not) or point to countries like Brazil with murder
rates much worse than the United States.”
AUTHOR: Joshua Marquis (born 1952) is an
attorney and politician from Astoria, Oregon in the United States. He has
served as District Attorney for Clatsop County since 1994. He frequently writes
and speaks about capital punishment. He is known for his belief that the death
penalty is justified in some cases. He is often quoted as a spokesperson on
behalf of the National District Attorneys Association.
APPLICATION:
Abolitionists claimed that in America, the States without the death penalty
have lower homicide rates than those that have it. They will use it as an
excuse to say that the death penalty does not deter murders because of the high
homicide rates. However, there are cities like Detroit (Michigan State) and DOC
who do not have the death penalty, but a high homicide rate too. I agree with
Joshua Marquis that comparing homicide rates are pointless, as it is like
comparing the United States with Mexico.
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