Citation

Donohue JJ, Shavell S. Am. Law Econ. Rev. 2010; 11(2): v-xii.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/aler/ahp025

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In 1975, Isaac Ehrlich launched the modern econometric evaluation of the impact of the death penalty on the prevalence of murder with a controversial paper that concluded that each execution would lead to eight fewer homicides. A year later, the Supreme Court cited Ehrlich's work in issuing an opinion ending the execution moratorium that had started with the 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia. The court held that capital punishment could satisfy constitutional requirements if it was administered in accordance with more elaborate capital sentencing procedures as a punishment for only the most egregious, highly aggravated murders.