Executions end lives, but not crime, said Dr. Rick Dierenfeldt.
“What we’ve discovered is that the death penalty tends to have no impact whatsoever on crime,” he said
The UTC Criminal Justice Associate Professor and former Missouri police officer spoke to students studying journalism at Camp REACH this month. The camp enables about 40 local high school students the opportunity to earn a paycheck while getting hands-on training in careers like graphic design, basketball, music, drama, and journalism. REACH is an acronym for Respect, Earn, Achievement, Citizenship and Hardwork.
“Camp REACH is a place to grow,” said 15-year-old Blair Davis.
She was one of several students who heard Dr. Dierenfeldt speak to the journalism class this summer.
The death penalty does nothing to deter crime because it’s enforced too slowly and too infrequently, he said. Tennessee right now has 45 people on death row. Most of them have been there for decades. One or two people have been on death row for more than 40 years, he said.
“When we look at things like deterrence theory, what we’ve discovered is that if your brain can process any pleasure from what you’ve done before being punished, the punishment will have no effect,” said Dierenfieldt.
Oscar Franklin Smith, found guilty of the 1989 murders of his estranged wife and her two sons, has been on death row since 1990, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Despite a scheduled execution in April 2022, a last-minute reprieve due to errors in lethal injection preparation delayed his execution. A December 2023 report revealed similar issues in eight other cases, halting all executions in Tennessee, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Smith’s 30-plus years on death row exemplify the lengthy delays between sentencing and execution.
The threat of capital punishment has existed off and on since 1796 when Tennessee became a state, yet people still commit first-degree murder and every other crime, said students discussing the issue. “It always keeps happening,” said 15-year-old Nevaeh Johnson. “No matter if the person is put in jail, crime continues to be an endless cycle.”
By Taylor Mitchell, 16
Camp REACH journalism student
(Camp REACH is a program of the Mary Walker Foundation)