Murder rates and death penalty

Murder rates and death penalty.A survey carried out by The New York Times using government statistics has revealed that over the past 20 years the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48% to 101% higher than in states without the death penalty. Ten of the 12 states without capital punishment have murder rates below the national average, despite having similar demographic profiles to states which retain the death penalty. "I think Michigan made a wise decision 150 years ago," said the state's governor, John Engler, a Republican, referring to the state's abolition of the death penalty in 1846. "We're pretty proud of the fact that we don't have the death penalty."