Clarifying Impressions About Capital Punishment There are many false impressions circulating in American society regarding the death penalty; This article hopes to clarify some of the most important and obvious ones. Is the death penalty a deterrent? Scientific studies have failed to find convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments. The most recent survey of research findings on the relationship between the death penalty and homicide rates, conducted for the United Nations in 1988 and updated in 1996, concluded: "The research has failed to provide scientific evidence that executions have an greater deterrent than life imprisonment and such evidence is unlikely to be available. The evidence as a whole still provides no positive support for the deterrent hypothesis..." (Hood 238) Analyzing the evidence on the relationship between changes in the use of punishment. death and crime rates, a study conducted for the United Nations in 1988 and updated in 1996 stated that "the fact that all the evidence continues to point in the same direction is compelling a priori evidence that countries need not fear sudden changes and serious crime curves if reducing their dependence on the death penalty." (Edwin) Recent crime data from abolitionist countries fails to demonstrate that abolition has harmful effects. In Canada, the homicide rate per 100,000 population fell from a peak of 3.09 in 1975, the year before the death penalty for murder was abolished, to 2.41 in 1980, and has declined further since then. In 1999, 23 years after abolition, the homicide rate was 1.76 per 100,000 population, 43 percent lower than in 1975. The total number of reported homicides in the country decreased in 1999 for the third consecutive year. The most important development in recent years has been the adoption of international treaties by which states undertake not to apply the death penalty. There are currently three such treaties:* The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which has now been ratified by 46 states. Seven other States have signed the Protocol, indicating their intention to become parties to it at a later date.* Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ("European Convention on Human Rights"), which has now been ratified by 39 European states and signed by three more.