Revenge Not Justice

Chilling reading first thing in the morning, take a look at the Herald-Leader story on the death penalty.

The story deals with a step-by-step look at how Kentucky lethally injects Death Row inmates is now public after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the partial release of the state's execution protocols.

If you are a “the bastard’s need to die” type, don’t read the rest of this post, you won’t like it.

I’m against the state killing people, here’s why:

One, judges and juries make mistakes. The system, even with all the appeals is not perfect. Innocent people are sometimes convicted and once you kill someone you can’t get do over.

Two, the act of murder by government is simply revenge. There is never closure for the families and loved ones by the act of killing someone. I came to this opinion after a long talk with a person that had witnessed multiple executions as part of their job. The act is just revenge not justice.

Three, the argument that it is cheaper to kill someone than keep them in prison is false.

The death penalty is much more expensive than its closest alternative--life imprisonment with no parole. Capital trials are longer and more expensive at every step than other murder trials. Pre-trial motions, expert witness investigations, jury selection, and the necessity for two trials--one on guilt and one on sentencing--make capital cases extremely costly, even before the appeals process begins. Guilty pleas are almost unheard of when the punishment is death. In addition, many of these trials result in a life sentence rather than the death penalty, so the state pays the cost of life imprisonment on top of the expensive trial.

The high price of the death penalty is often most keenly felt in those counties responsible for both the prosecution and defense of capital defendants. A single trial can mean near bankruptcy, tax increases, and the laying off of vital personnel. Trials costing a small county $100,000 from unbudgeted funds are common and some officials have even gone to jail in resisting payment…..

For the states which employ the death penalty, this luxury comes at a high price. In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. [3] In Florida, each execution is costing the state $3.2 million. [4] In financially strapped California, one report estimated that the state could save $90 million each year by abolishing capital punishment. [5] The New York Department of Correctional Services estimated that implementing the death penalty would cost the state about $118 million annually.[6]