Jat

http://208.55.30.156/facts/other/costly.shtml

NHGH

If I followed Mike Rosoft's objection correctly, he was saying that in some cases, someone might actually commit a murder for the express purpose of getting a death sentence, as a means of suicide; thus, if there were no death penalty, he wouldn't have committed the murder in the first place. I'd concede that this happens on occasion, but I'm not convinced that it happens often enough to be a serious public policy concern.

Grad Student Humanist

Oh ok, I get it now. But I doubt it. Seems like an awfully convoluted way to commit suicide. It's more likely said person would just get into a shootout with the police or something.

NHGH

I've never found the cost argument against the death penalty to be very convincing. I'd agree that the disparity is there, but I don't think it reflects anything inherent in the death penalty. It's just a reflection of the fact that, in criminal justice as in other things, you get what you pay for--and we demand a higher quality of justice in capital trials than in noncapital trials.

That's particularly troubling if you believe (as I do) that life imprisonment would actually be worse than execution. At the very least, I think a lot of people would agree that life imprisonment isn't all that much better than death. But if these two sentences are comparable in their severity, shouldn't we invest an amount of resources into a noncapital murder trial comparable to the amount we invest in a capital trial? Is anyone else bothered by this?

Opera Nut

Treason and desertion from the armed forces are both betrayals of one's country, and both are punishable by imprisonment or death. Very relevant.

Jat

Death is not a real punishment since once you're dead you're death. You learn nothing from you mistakes and that is what a punishment is suppose to be. Life is the real punishment.

Would you want to spend the rest of your life in a little, I think, 9X6 cell with no privacy, you can own nothing, you can't choose what you may want to do. You can't choose when to eat, to clean yourself, to even when you go to sleep.

To those who mistakenly believe that being in a prison is like being in a resort... You are ignorant fools.

PopeInTheWoods

For those of you arguing about the relative harshness of the death penalty vs. life imprisonment, how about this modest compromise? Abolish executions and sentence all of the death-penalty-eligible convicts to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Then with each dinner, also present them with a sealed container holding a pill that would cause painless but certain death. The pill must be returned in order for the prisoner to receive his next breakfast.

Andy

Jat

The trouble with that is that if you piss someone off in the prison you may find a little extra surprise in your pudding one day....

PopeInTheWoods

Jat,

I agree that in the general prison population, such an idea is logistically unworkable. For the sake of argument, let's pretend that these "capital crime" convicts are in a Death-Row-like (or even "SuperMax") environment: solitary confinement at least 23 hrs/day, no physical interaction with other prisoners, minimal interaction with guards, monitoring to prevent abuse by prison authorities, etc. What do you think of the theory?

Andy

Jat

Assisted suicide is a crime.