Despite these findings, there still remains a lack of consensus among researchers on the effect of capital punishment as a crime deterrent, with the results of many studies challenging the above findings. One method of studying the deterring effect of death sentences is to compare homicide rates in states that have never had the death penalty to the other states in the US. Researchers examining this have concluded that “most of the action in homicide rates in the United States is unrelated to capital punishment.” [5] Further, an extensive survey given to leading criminologists asking for their expert opinions regarding whether the death penalty served as a more effective deterrent than long-term imprisonment showed a strong consensus: The experts agreed that the death penalty has no additional effect on deterring capital crimes [6].