Posted on 06/30/2009 1:05:18 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The state could save up to $1 billion over the next five years, they say, by commuting all 682 death row inmates' sentences to life without the possibility of parole.
Nearly 3 1/2 years into a court-ordered suspension of executions, opponents have embraced a new argument: that Californians can't afford to carry out the death penalty in a constitutional manner.
They contend that by commuting all 682 death row inmates' sentences to life without the possibility of parole, the state could save up to $1 billion over the next five years -- a view expected to be offered, and challenged, during a public hearing today in Sacramento on proposed changes to the lethal injection procedures.
The cost-saving argument has emerged as abolitionists have unsuccessfully lobbied for repeal of capital punishment on moral grounds.
They have been empowered by the state's budget crisis, as well as by some influential law-and-order advocates who have concluded that deficiencies in the legal and corrections systems are beyond repair.
More California death row inmates have died in the time that executions have been halted than were put to death in the previous 30 years: 16 have died since early 2006, 11 of natural causes and five by suicide, compared with 13 put to death since 1976.
Today's six-hour hearing concludes a two-month period for public comment on the revised lethal injection routine that has drawn at least 2,000 written opinions.
Among those calling for commutation on economic grounds are former California Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and former corrections chief Jeanne Woodford.
"With California facing its most severe fiscal crisis in recent memory -- with draconian cuts about to be imposed from Sacramento that will affect every resident of the state --
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
This is a phony argument. Executing people is not inherently expensive. The reason it has become expensive is because of all the red tape and delays put in place by anti-death penalty advocates.
I think the gallows are still legal. Could be wrong though.
Better idea...take them all out in the exercise area and shoot them. Problem solved! Money Saved!
Firing squad with 8 blanks and 4 live rounds is cheap method.........I volunteer to do it for just a free dinner and transportation to and from. Heck I’ll bring my own rifle and ammo. Call me !
Agreed. This is analogous to the man who murders his parents and then demands mercy because he's an orphan.
Don’t waste the ammo. You can re-use a rope or a knife.
If these “death row foes” REALLY want to save money, put ankle bracelets on the inmates and let them spend the rest of their sentences living in the opponents’ homes.
And remember that the only 100% sure deterrent is the death penalty. No executed murderer has ever killed again.
Punishment serves as a deterrent to crime mainly by its certainty, not by its barbarity. Lessen the chance that a capital crime will be punished (or more likely, make it likely that the crime will be pleaded down to a lesser offense for the convenience of disposing of the case) and offenders are less impressed with the justice system, and will increase the possibility they will commit the crimes.
Suspects caught in the commission of a felony can stall and delay for months, even years. The speed with which Madoff came to trial was relatively blinding, made so by his voluntary surrender and the publicity the case garnered.
That being said, using guns, ropes, knives, needles, chairs, etc. for execution . . . where is the justice in those?
The garrotte. Now THAT was execution.
It takes a certain amount of gall to support loading the death penalty appeals process so heavily that it basically guarantees a minimum of twenty to thirty years (if ever) between conviction and execution and then complain that the process is too long and expensive.
“where is the justice in those?”
There is no longer a possibility of them ever killing again. Justice served. I don’t believe that capital punishment serves as a deterrent in the least. Most people that would be deterred by it wouldn’t commit the crime in the first place.
“The garrotte.”
I’m ok with that. You can re-use it.
682 on death row in California????? Time to get busy and save money on meals, medical, everything.
Me too.
The state could save up to $1 billion over the next five years, they say, by commuting all 682 death row inmates’ sentences to life without the possibility of parole.
Or that could save the same amout if they just executed all of these scumbags by the end of the week as should have been done long ago.
99% of these people will die of natural causes.
Dr. Dean discovered that fact as Governor. Kind of sets him apart from most other Democrat party top dogs too. He said in an interview that the kind of people who get condemned to death are the very same ones history has shown to be most likely to kill one or more people in prison. It would be a fellow prisoner, a guard, a visitor ~ whatever ~ they'd do it. So if you sent them in for Life you were actually killing someone else.
Personally, I like the guillotine. Send ‘em back to their families in two separate boxes.
(Actually, it scares the heck out of me - but I still like as a way of disposing of murderers...)
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