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Marginal Deterrence and Multiple Murders
Author(s) -
Ekelund Robert B.,
Jackson John D.,
Ressler Rand W.,
Tollison Robert D.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
southern economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 2325-8012
pISSN - 0038-4038
DOI - 10.1002/j.2325-8012.2006.tb00718.x
Subject(s) - deterrence (psychology) , homicide , punishment (psychology) , economics , marginal cost , econometrics , estimation , electrocution , criminology , poison control , injury prevention , psychology , law and economics , microeconomics , social psychology , medicine , environmental health , management , emergency medicine
This paper examines empirically the state‐level impact of capital punishment on multiple murder rates for the period 1995‐1999. In baseline tests—tests employing mixed panel data and using an estimation technique combining aspects of both fixed‐ and random‐effects models—we show that executions reduce the single murder rate and that the use of electrocution reduces the murder rate beyond that resulting from lethal injection. These results are not unique. The unique finding of our analysis is that multiple murders are not deterred by execution in any form, quite possibly because the marginal cost of murders after the first is approximately zero. Finally, we offer a brief historical analysis of how the principle of marginal deterrence has been used and suggest how it might be applied in the matter of multiple murders.