Posted by J.H. on March 21, 1999 at 14:34:36 {MWKQmDRkic4cM}:
In Reply to: ****Realization posted by Doug on March 21, 1999 at 14:06:44:
Doug,
: :In addition, it can be easily observed that the places where there are capital punishment has a much higher crime rate.
: If so, then what's the correlation between the two?
It may or may not be one. As you note, to conclude causation from correlation (how's that for using multisyllable words :-) we need an explanative theory. We need to be able to explain why X causes Y, or we would normally have to conclude that correlation is coincidental.
: I mean, it seems unreasonable to me to conclude that capital punishment actually encourages a higher crime rate.
Yes, I think so too.
It may be that the same patterns that make the people in a society want capital punishment makes people more violent.
If there is one thing I find unhealthy with the American society, it's the fetish for violence. I think both the crime rate and capital punishment is the result of this factor, among other things. As an Arab I once met in field service (!) remarked (and he had studied to 3 masters on Harvard and had developed the usual hate-love relationship to the USA), the United States is founded on a massive genocide of the native peoples who lived there. It is indeed founded on violence. This may not be unique as nations go, but the USA is a young nation.
PS: Got your email. Still thinking. No obvious answer I can think of.