🚀 go-pugleaf

davevh@microsoft.com (Dave Van Horn) writes:

>Erik Hedberg writes:

>>Further clouding the issue is the fact that "life without parole" is
>>*cheaper* than execution.

>Six times cheaper, on average, according to CBS News.

And where did they get their figures from?  I've always heard the
argument extended by opponents of capital punishment.  Which is not to
say that I don't agree that the appeals process makes a mockery of the
judicial system and inflates costs way beyond what they should be.  In
the case of Westley A. Dodd, I doubt that it was six more times more
expensive to kill him than imprison him for life.  But he made no
attempt to file appeal after appeal after appeal.

Either the death penalty should be abolished nationwide or we should have
a streamlined appeals process for capital punishment.  The last minute 
attempts to delay execution should be eliminated in most cases.  

I admire the dedication with which opponents of the death penalty fight
to keep criminals alive.  But I think it's time to remove the monkey
wrench of continuous appeals from the current system, which is really 
the worst of both worlds.

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