The Deterrent Effect of Death Penalty Eligibility: Evidence from the Adoption of Child Murder Eligibility Factors

Abstract

We draw on within-state variations in the reach of capital punishment statutes between 1977 and 2004 to identify the deterrent effects associated with capital eligibility. Focusing on the most prevalent eligibility expansion, we estimate that the adoption of a child murder factor is associated with an approximately 20% reduction in the homicide rate of youth victims. Eligibility expansions may enhance deterrence by (1) paving the way for more executions and (2) providing prosecutors with greater leverage to secure enhanced non-capital sentences. While executions themselves are rare, this latter channel is likely to be triggered fairly regularly, providing a reasonable basis for a general deterrent response.

The Effect of Statutory Rape Laws on Teen Birth Rates

“…14 14 This methodology was recently employed by the authors in an evaluation of the deterrent effect of capital punishment eligibility (Frakes and Harding 2009). Representing one of the pioneering applications of this approach, Currie and Gruber (1996) draw on withinstate changes in Medicaid eligibility rules over time to estimate the effect of Medicaid eligibility on healthcare utilization and outcomes.…”