Thunda Wrote:No one was specifically advocating the reinstatement of capital punishment in Canada. However, suppose there was another factor at work that decreased the homicide rate that over-compensated for the removal of capital punishment. In this case, capital punishment might lower the homicide rate even more.

Loose Wrote:This is pretty much what I think of this:

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Thunda Wrote:All political decisions have an inherent risk.

Anyways, I *think* this thread was about the death penalty in general, not just for Canada.

Thunda Wrote:You didn't understand. Just because Canada eliminated the death sentence and the homicide rate went down after the fact doesn't mean those two are related that way. Another factor could be at work.

For example, when ice cream consumption goes up, so do the number of drowning deaths. Do people drown because of ice cream? Highly unlikely. in this case, the intermediate factor is obvious - the time of year and temperature determines people's desire for ice cream and their inclination for swimming. But in more complicated cases as homicide rates, the factors aren't as obvious. The above was just an example of why correlation != causation.