Is it useful?

Many people support the death penalty because they believe it deters future crimes and gives relief to victims' families. These people may have misgivings about the state's killing individuals, but they see execution as a pragmatic issue.

According to FBI data, the presence of the death penalty in a state does not translate into lower homicide rates. A recent study by the New York Times found that since 1976, states that have the death penalty actually had higher homicide rates than states without the death penalty. Law enforcement experts explain that most homicides are unpremeditated crimes of passion-killers who don't usually pause to consider what might happen if they were tried and convicted.