+220 The death penalty is not to "prove that killing is wrong" by killing people. It is to evade the world of people that kill other people; it prevents those sentenced from committing more murders. The death penalty kills one person, a serial killer kills several, amirite?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But wouldn't a life sentence fix that problem just as well?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yeah, and in lots of states the cost of putting someone to death is more than just keeping them in jail for life. In California: "Using conservative rough projections, the Commission estimates the annual costs of the present (death penalty) system to be $137 million per year." While "The cost of a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty would be$11.5 million per year." http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty

by Anonymous 12 years ago

How would killing someone cost more than keeping them alive for life? I'm not arguing your point, I just find it mind boggling.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

When you keep them alive, you have to pay for their food, shelter, medical care I believe, and anything associated with living. When you kill them, they're gone. So paying for their living expenses year after year ends up costing more.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

...That doesn't answer my question when what I asked was how would killing them cost MORE.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Oh! I'm so sorry, I must have read that wrong. I thought you were asking it the other way around, my bad.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Good question, but I have an answer. " Legally, every part of a death penalty case is more expensive than a regular criminal case: from preparation for trial, the number of lawyers appointed, the number of prosecutors, the amount of time, the experts, jury selection, the trials itself and the appeals. They are all more expensive. Even keeping someone on death row is more expensive than keeping them in prison because they are in a single cell and meals are brought to them. They are watched 24 hours. The only time you might save money in a death penalty case is if a person is executed, but other costs are so overwhelming by that time that it is so much more expensive to execute someone counting all the legal costs leading up to it than it is to keep them in prison for life."

by Anonymous 12 years ago

" Death row is the highest form of security incarceration, because there is a chance of suicide, there is a single cell. Their meals and legal things are brought to them. If they have a visitor, they are shackled and escorted by two guards. They do not work in the prison generally, so there is no help for the prison like with meals. So that is not a way to efficiently run the prison. That is the most expensive form. But the myth is that they will be executed soon and so we don’t have them in the programs for rehabilitation. The reality is it will be 15 years or maybe longer before they are executed. So they are doing much of a life sentence in prison, but the number of guards for an inmate on death row is going to be higher than any place else." http://outofthestormnews.com/2011/04/27/how-much-does-an-execution-cost-qa-with-richard-dieter-executive-director-of-the-death-penalty-information-center/ You're probably not gonna read all that, but yeah.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

OK, a lot of that made sense, but are they saying they are concerned about a death row inmate committing suicide? I don't mean to sound heartless, but should that really be such a concern?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Shameless plug that explains my entire opinion on the matter: http://amirite.net/382657 Also, I don't really know what to vote on this.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Clearly you didn't read the post.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Famous names do not a correct statement make.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I just read it today and thought it applied nicely, and I believe it to be true.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Among other things, most people who are put to death aren't serial killers; many people who commit murder once aren't going to do it again.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

They don't put those people to death though.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I think they shouldn't kill the murders etc. just let them live the rest of their life sad and lonely, because I would rather die then live in prison the rest of my life therefore there doing criminals good by killing them.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You're just making those arguments separate. It's still morally ridiculous. "Hey you do something bad so we'll show we're better than you by doing the same thing." I don't get it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago