In criminology, brutalization refers to a hypothesized cause-and-effect relationship between executions and an increase in the homicide rate.
This hypothesis proposes this relationship occurs because executions diminish the public's respect for life.
[1][2] A 1980 study found that in New York, there were an average of two additional homicides in the month after an execution, consistent with a brutalization effect.
[3] A 1994 study found evidence of this effect in Oklahoma, but only in relation to stranger homicides,[4] while a 1998 study found strong evidence to support a hypothesis relating to the total number of homicides in Oklahoma.
[5] A 1978 study found no evidence to support the brutalization hypothesis.