"The death penalty is no more effective a deterrent than life imprisonment... It is also evident that the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant and the underprivileged members of society," this once said Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. In the United States, the death penalty is often promoted as a way to deter violence and make society safer, yet scientific studies have consistently failed to find convincing evidence that executions discourage crime more effectively than alternative punishment. …
