News-Record.com

As I've said before, I oppose the death penalty in principal but understand the thinking of most of those who support it. Since Mr. Morris states that he had a daughter who was murdered I most certainly allow him the right to his opinion.

Can't say that I blame him in the least.

The problem is with the numbers. If financial cost - whether counterbalanced by the expense of the appeals process or not - is used as the final arbiter in determining the validity of the death penalty the logic of the final decision collapses upon itself.

You could just as easily use the "cost to society argument" to justify the execution of smokers, drunk drivers, persons who engage in irresponsible sexual activity, illegal aliens and the chronically overweight.

It could even be expanded to apply to entire families with a genetic predisposition towards heart conditions, hypertension or various birth defects.

I am of course not implying that Mr. Morris would condone any executions based on such criteria, only pointing out that as a logical argument based on cost analysis the summary execution of a few hundred million people would certainly reduce a society's financial liability.

You could just as logically argue that in a famine prone nation cannibalism would present a near perfect system of sustainability, in that the food supply would tend to increase at the same rate as the demand, at least until the last survivor started chewing on his own toes as an appetizer - but the underlying question would still remain.

Is it the morally correct decision?

To me it's not, but I don't claim to have divine wisdom on the subject. It's just my opinion.

Jan, you usually mention having your coffee in early morning posts, have you had it yet?

"You could just as easily use the "cost to society argument" to justify the execution of smokers, drunk drivers, persons who engage in irresponsible sexual activity, illegal aliens and the chronically overweight."

Smokers pay taxes on the cigs they use to kill themselves and also for the health and life insurance.

Drunk drivers pay with losing their license and all that. Now if a drunk driver hits and kills someone. it should count as murder 1 and they should be eligible for the death penalty.

irresponsible sexual activity, I still get a good laugh out of these folks on maury povich so lets keep them for comic relief, however, refusing to be checked for diseases and then having more irresponisble sexual activity should be met with a punishment but not death..unless they infect someone with HIV.

Illegal aliens...i dont care one way or the other. God knows i couldnt hang out in saudi arabia without a visa and stay alive and untouched.

have you ever noticed that the chronically overweight always seem to have someone that keeps feeding them? or is it just the way that it looks on tv? i dont think they should get a death penalty, They've given themselves a death penalty

... except in this case the financial arguement: "it's cheaper to keep 'em in a cell" is reinforcement of the other arguments:

- death is too "easy" on the perp - let him suffer as his victim did.
- death is too "hard" on the perp - as a humane society we let God make the ultimate choice.

I'm not sure about that $30,000 number. Seems low compared to what I've heard it cost to house a 'regular' maximum security inmate. I've heard in the 60 to 70 k range.

Which, quiet frankly, doesn't make sense to me. How can it cost more to care for one prisoner than it takes me to care for my entire family?

LOL Dan, is it THAT obvious?

One piece of info you need to make or refute this "it costs too much" argument is what's the cost to keep them in prison for life without the possibility of parole? When considering the death row issue, the cost of the endless appeals should also be factored in, because DR inmates typically exhaust every possible appeal process. Even if an inmate starts off paying for his own defense/appeals, soon the money is depleted and he/she has to use a lawyer paid for by the state. The public defender system is already overloaded and often a private practice attorney is hired. In NC, a lawyer has to be deemed qualified to represent death penalty defendents and has to have a certain amount of experience sitting "second chair," meaning being the lawyer who assists in preparing a death penalty offense, but not in actually arguing a case. Legal work costs, but death penalty legal work costs more. The practical side of me says we should outlaw the death penalty. However, in some cases, the gut reaction takes over and I agree a defendant should fry. At times, I think we should expand the death penalty to cover people who molest children.

The problem in this argument is that there are some crimes that deserve the harshest punishment possible, not a guaranteed "three hots and a cot."

Some thoughts:

$100 million is $2 million per state, per year.

According to Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., the most comprehensive cost study was published by Duke University researchers in 1993. This two-year study determined North Carolina's capital cases cost at least an extra $2.16 million per execution, compared to what taxpayers would have spent if defendants were tried without the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison. Applying those figures nationally would mean $1.69 billion were spent on the 784 executions carried out nationwide since 1976 (in 1993 dollars).
http://www.fguide.org/Bulletin/cappun.htm

Sounds like the easiest solution would be to reevaluate mandatory minimum sentencing structures for non-violent violent drug offenders, who made up 55% of Federal inmates in 2003, and 21.4% of State housed inmates. That would probably help things out a bit.
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/prison.htm

The LTTE writer's math is incorrect.

The annual cost at $80 per day is $29,200; not "it becomes more than $30,000 per year." I wonder on this LTTE writer's motive when considering the inaccuracy of this. What baffles me is that this man used the wrong figure for the annual rate per inmate and then was more accurate on the annual cost per year for all inmates. The LTTE writer states, "If you multiply that by the 3,282 prisoners sentenced to die nationwide, the expense to U.S. taxpayers becomes nearly $100 million per year." The actual figure is $95,834,400.

It just sounds to me like the main reason for this letter is revenge against the person who murdered this man's daughter.

Sorry folks, I am not one who seeks revenge and therefore, I have to disagree with this LTTE writer.

Shalom

uhh Darryl ... from one that deals with numbers all day long ... $29,200 IS $30,000. You may have a legit' quibble at the "more than" statement, but likewise, $95,834,400 IS nearly $100 million per year.

Talking about pickin a nit. :)

JDR, would not the $29,200 be rounded DOWN to $29,000? That is my point. This LTTE writer is too flippent with his numbers for me to want to respect anything he writes. That is the premise behind my comments.

Shalom