Effects of an Execution on Homicides in California

Abstract

Contemporary research on the effects of executions on homicides has turned up two different results. Research examining short-term effects of an execution has sometimes found decreases in homicides after executions (a deterrent effect), whereas research examining long-term effects has sometimes found that homicides increase following executions (a brutalization effect). This study employed a quasi-experimental before-and-after analysis coupled with a disaggregation strategy to examine the short- and long-term effects of executions on different types of homicides in Los Angeles, California in the aftermath of the 1992 execution of Robert Alton Harris. Findings indicate that there were both short-term deterrent and long-term brutalization effects of the execution on different types of homicides, but the net effects included increases in overall homicides and most disaggregated types of homicides consistent with the brutalization theory.