More Academics Now Support Death Penalty
A feature article in the January 7 USA Today points out that there is growing support for capital punishment in an unlikely place: academia.
Even though death penalty opponents out number advocates of capital punishment by a substantial margin, recent studies linking deterrence to states that impose death sentences suggest that more scholars are supporting the death penalty.
The death penalty has come under closer scrutiny in recent years as two states, Illinois and Maryland, now have moratoria on executions. Death penalty opponents cite two primary factors for opposing capital punishment: racial bias and the question of deterrents.
However, recent academic studies by scholars question the claim that the executions fail to deter crimes. Three Emory University researchers published a study last year that examined 6,000 death sentences that were imposed from 1977 to the end of 1996, and concluded that "each execution saved the lives of 18 potential victims."
Other studies at the University of Houston and at the University of Colorado at Denver found similar results.
Robert Blecker, a professor at New York Law School, is studying the deterrent aspects of the death penalty. He claims the findings from these studies reflect what he has turned up in interviews with 60 killers.
"They are cognizant of whether they are operating in a death-penalty state before they pull the trigger," Blecker notes.
In their comprehensive 1989 book on the psychology of crime, The Causes and Cures of Criminality, Hans J. Eysenck and Gisli H. Gudjosson cite an earlier British study that compared murder rates to the imposition of the death penalty and the analysis likewise found that capital punishment deterred crimes and saved lives.
For more information on Richard Willing’s article in USA Today visit the newspaper’s website: www.usatoday.com
New Studies Reveal States Can’t Tax Way Out of Debt
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released a report in early January that shows the top ten states that continue to drown in debt.
"Show Me the Money": Budget-Cutting Strategies for Cash-Strapped States reports that "total state budget deficits for fiscal years 2003-2004 now approach $90 billion nationwide.
California tops the list as having the most red ink with a $35 billion budget deficit followed by Texas with $12 billion and then New York with $10 billion.
The other top states with massive budget deficits include: Minnesota ($4.6 billion), Wisconsin ($2.6 billion), Michigan ($2.4 billion), Illinois ($2.25 billion), Washington ($2 billion), Connecticut ($2 billion), Maryland ($1.8 billion).
"These figures are simply staggering," said Michael Flynn, ALEC’s director of policy and legislation.
"Raising taxes or clamoring for a federal bailout is not the answer, and in fact will only perpetuate and deepen the current fiscal crisis. What’s required is a candid and sober evaluation of each state’s medium and long-term costs of operating government. It’s only by reducing the size and scope of government in strategic and imaginative ways that each state finds a way out of its woes."
Copies of the report are available at: www.ALEC.org or from Bob Adams at (202) 466-3800.
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) also released a report, "Solutions to the States’ Budget Ills," concluding that tax increases were the wrong way to balance state budget shortfalls.
The author of the report, NTUF President John Berthoud, reviews "a range of research showing a strong causal relationship between higher taxes and poor economic performance. States which enacted tax hikes during the last budget crisis (in the early 1990s) experienced slower income, employment, and population growth during the ensuing decade."
Copies of the NTUF Policy Paper 140 is available online at: www.ntu.org or (703) 683-5700.
CATO Institute to Hold
Book Forum Luncheon
The CATO Institute will feature Catherine Crier, reporter for Court TV, and author of The Case Against Lawyers (Broadway Books, 2002) during a book forum luncheon Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003, at noon. Crier will offer a wide-ranging critique of the American legal system and a discussion of what changes might improve it.
For more information contact the CATO Institute: www.cato.org, e-mail Krystal Brand at [email protected] or call (202) 842-0200 ext. 800.
Extending Jobless Benefits May Prolong Unemployment
Congress last week quickly voted another 11 weeks of unemployment benefits for those whose checks have run out, but a new analysis from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) shows that extending unemployment benefits may actually prolong joblessness for an estimated 800,000 Americans whose already extended benefits expired December 28.
NCPA Senior Fellow William B. Conerly, author of the brief analysis (No. 426) Is Extending Unemployment Benefits A Good Idea? argues, "the problem is people keep getting checks as long as they are out of work. As soon as they find a job, the benefits cease . . . . All of the research shows that when you pay people not to work, there is less work. We need a system that rewards people for finding jobs rather for remaining jobless."
Conerly points out that Chile has adopted a program of individual accounts for workers, a program that works extremely well. Chilean workers and employers contribute to workers’ individual accounts and during periods of unemployment, a worker may use funds from the account as a source of income. However, any funds remaining belong to the worker and can be withdrawn as cash during retirement. There is an incentive to find work quickly since the funds belong to the worker. A greater duration of employment for each worker translates into a larger retirement fund.
For information on the report visit the NCPA website: www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba426.
