Norway Muslims question focus on Breivik's sanity - Forensic Psychiatry News

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Norway Muslims question focus on Breivik's sanity - Atlanta Journal Constitution

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MiamiHerald.com

Norway Muslims question focus on Breivik's sanity Atlanta Journal Constitution By JULIA GRONNEVET AP OSLO, Norway — Muslim leaders in Norway say they are concerned that the anti-Islamic ideology of Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right fanatic now on trial for killing 77 people, is being overshadowed by questions about his ... Norway survivors of Breivik massacre tell of painChicago Tribune Experts: Norway mass killer Anders Behring Breivik likely not insane despite ...CBS News Experts: Mass killer Breivik likely not insaneMiamiHerald.com Detroit Free Press all 357 news articles »

Norway Muslims question focus on Breivik's sanity - Fremont Tribune

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Norway Muslims question focus on Breivik's sanity Fremont Tribune AP | Posted: Saturday, April 28, 2012 7:42 am | (0) Comments Anders Behring Breivik arrives in court in Oslo Friday April 27, 2012 for the continuation of his trial. Since he has admitted his actions, Breivik's mental state is the key issue for the ... EUROPE NEWS AT 0700 GMTNECN EUROPE NEWS AT 1900 GMTKFOX El Paso all 16 news articles »

Europe's far right marches on - Salon

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Salon

Europe's far right marches on Salon And in an Oslo courtroom, Anders Behring Breivik fights to prove he was sane last July when he systematically slaughtered 77 innocent people, mostly teenagers, at a summer camp. He was, he explains, simply trying to spark a crusade against ... and more »

Norway Muslims question focus on Breivik's sanity - Kansas City Star

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Norway Muslims question focus on Breivik's sanity Kansas City Star By JULIA GRONNEVET AP FILE- This is a April 23, 2012 file photo showing Mehtab Afsar, leader of the Islamic Council in Norway, in the courthouse in Oslo where he attended the proceedings Anders Behring Breivik. Muslim leaders in Norway say they are ... Norway survivors of Breivik massacre tell of painChicago Tribune Experts: Norway mass killer Anders Behring Breivik likely not insane despite ...CBS News Experts: Mass killer Breivik likely not insaneMiamiHerald.com Detroit Free Press all 446 news articles »

“Nothing is known about how potential murderers actually perceive their risk of punishment...” - The Myth of Deterrence - NYTimes.com

The Myth of Deterrence - NYTimes.com

Editorial

The Myth of Deterrence

Published: April 27, 2012

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One of the most frequently made claims about the death penalty is that it deters potential murderers. That was the claim when the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. It is the claim today after a revival of research about the topic in the last decade.

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But a distinguished committee of scholars working for the National Research Council has now reached the striking and convincing conclusion that all of the research about deterrence and the death penalty done in the past generation, including by some first-rank scholars at the most prestigious universities, should be ignored.

The committee found that the research “is not informative about whether capital punishment increases, decreases, or has no effect on homicide rates.” No study looks at what really matters, by comparing the deterrent effects of capital punishment with other penalties, like life without parole. A lot of the research assumes that “potential murderers respond to the objective risk of execution,” but only one in six of the people sentenced to death in the last 35 years have been executed and no study properly took that diminished risk into account.

“Nothing is known about how potential murderers actually perceive their risk of punishment,” said the criminologist Daniel Nagin, chairman of the committee.

The committee was careful to say what it did not examine, including the proven risk that an innocent person could be sentenced to death and the fact that the administration of capital punishment could well be discriminatory.

On Wednesday when Connecticut’s governor, Dannel Malloy, signed the state’s new law abolishing the death penalty, these problems were on his mind. As a former supporter of capital punishment, he said that he “came to believe that doing away with the death penalty was the only way to ensure it would not be unfairly imposed.”

The 33 states that retain the death penalty should follow that lead.

A version of this editorial appeared in print on April 28, 2012, on page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: The Myth of Deterrence.