# Why Doesn't The U.S. Execute Spies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 27, 2013, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663 "2013-07-27T11:42:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/21 "2013-07-28T00:13:32Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > There has never been any evidence that the death penalty has a deterrent effect. Maybe not, but it sure as hell cures recidivism. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/22 "2013-07-28T00:15:15Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Maybe not, but it sure as hell cures recidivism. More than life in prison does? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/23 "2013-07-28T00:18:28Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > There has never been any evidence that the death penalty has a deterrent effect. Any evidence? ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/24 "2013-07-28T00:34:54Z")
> [@Jormungandr](#): > > Why would this even be question? Aside from the Rosenbergs, I can’t think of any Soviet spies executed by the US, giving them lengthy prison sentences instead. Yet, the Soviet Union had no such reservations. You’ve got things backwards, the Rosenbergs were very much the exception rather than the norm. Aside from them I can’t think of anyone offhand who the US has executed for spying during peacetime. Executing spies is something normally done during [wartime](http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/nazi-saboteurs). The Soviet Union also had no reservations about sending millions to the Gulags, often without trial. That doesn’t mean it’s something the US should try to copy. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/25 "2013-07-28T05:02:32Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Considering that the OP referenced that in the second sentence of their post, we can assume that they were aware of that. :o My fatigue is my cite. ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/26 "2013-07-28T05:22:26Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > More than life in prison does? Which one costs less on average? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/27 "2013-07-28T05:51:36Z")
> [@IceQube](#): > > Which one costs less on average? The way it’s done now in America? Life in prison. In Saudi Arabia? Death. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/28 "2013-07-28T06:23:59Z")
Did I miss something? Didn’t this start in GQ? I don’t see a Mod post above about moving it to GD. Anyway, in case anybody isn’t familiar enough with history the Rosenbergs were absolutely, 110% **guilty** , no doubt about it. But their executions (particularly the wife) were 90% propaganda and 10% practical punishment. It was during the height of the ‘Red scare’. The biggest hypocrisy & injustice about their sentences is that there were several other atomic spies (Klaus Fuchs for example) who were also just as guilty, and yet they walked away with little more than a slap on the wrist!. I stand by my original post stating that the freedom-loving US just isn’t comfortable with the often complicated crime of treason. There’s an inherent conflict between it and freedom of speech, expression, religion, political dissension etc. As a related example the US military only executed one, _ **one** _ soldier during all of WWII for desertion (a capital crime during wartime even today). The Soviets executed thousands. Soviet POWs released after the war were often executed for cowardice after the fact (just for having been captured). Soviet Political Officers were routinely positioned at the rear of the front lines with orders to shoot on sight soldiers retreating, or sometimes simply not advancing fast enough. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/29 "2013-07-28T06:44:46Z")
Indeed, if you want to see how common in many places and times it was to execute for treason soldiers who failed to advance as fast as their officers commanded, even when it was into certain death and even if that would simply be a useless slaughter that helped nothing, see the movie _Paths of Glory_. ---
**Author:** ![Psychopants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Psychopants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psychopants)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/30 "2013-07-28T08:16:25Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > The certainty of punishment, not the severity, is the deterrent. I agree with your statement in general, but I’m sure there are numerous specifics where the possibility of capital punishment deterred someone from their evil ways. I’m pretty sure that any recipients of the death penalty were adequately deterred. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663/31 "2013-07-28T19:14:40Z")
Considering that no convicted spy would ever find himself in a position where he had access to sensitive material again, that’s not a very useful observation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-the-u-s-execute-spies/664663.md?page=1)