Investigating the Role of Death Penalty in Deterring Drug Trafficking

The present study is aimed at investigating the role of the death penalty in combating drug trafficking.

The method of conducting this research is descriptive-analytical, and of survey type. The statistical population of the study is all elites, experts, judges, lawyers, university professors, some criminals, and provincial police involved in combating drugs, including the provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan, Kerman, Fars, Hormozgan and expertsin Tehran. The statistical sample size was about 188 people, which according to Morgan table, 127 people were selected by proportional stratified sampling method. The method of data collection, field and its tools was a researcher-made questionnaire with 24 items, based on a five-point Likert scale. The validity of the questionnaire was obtained through the logical method, i.e. questions from ten elites and methodologists, and the reliability of the questionnaires was obtained through the Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which had an alpha coefficient of 0.721 for the dependent variable and for the independent variables, were estimated respectively 0.77 , 0.79, 0.83, 0.89, 0.91.

The analysis of the findings showed that petty offenders in drug crimes should not be sentenced to life imprisonment, but the best punishment is temporary imprisonment and parole, given changes in their past behavior. In addition, the results indicate that the death penalty has not been so effective in combating drug trafficking.