Just do it already. We haven’t executed anybody in years, we don’t have the chemicals to do it according to our own protocols, and it’s mind-blowingly expensive. Oh, and there’s the fact that it is an unjust and corrupt system, where the poor are always handicapped. I bring this up today for a specific reason of course. It seems that the Illinois legislator that sponsored the legislation repealing the death penalty has heard some news:
Gov. Quinn plans to sign landmark legislation today that will repeal the state’s death penalty, said a key House lawmaker and sources briefed on his plans.
State Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood), the bill’s chief House sponsor, said she received notification from a Quinn legislative aide late Tuesday afternoon that the governor would enact the death-penalty abolition bill Wednesday morning.
“For Illinois, I think we’ll be on the right side of history,” (Chicago Sun-Times)
Over the next five years, the death penalty will cost us at least a billion dollars, and frankly that estimate is probably conservative. The expenses of the death penalty are stashed all across the budget, a bit for death row here, the death chamber there, and pretty soon you are talking real money.
At this point, we know that we have killed innocent people. Sure, you could argue, as those in the system frequently do, that they probably did something else, but the heart of the matter is that we are allowing the state to go further than simply unjust kidnapping (wrongful convictions of non-capital offenses) straight to murder.
Looking past the morality issues, and the irony surrounding those who advocate for a culture of life being so supportive of death, there simply is no way to implement the death penalty in a way that eliminates the racial and socioeconomic biases inherent in our justice system. Our justice system may be the best we’ve got, but it’s far from perfect. Staking lives on it seems absurd at this moment in history, after everything we’ve learned.
Sure, many will not be impressed by the moral argument, but the fact is that there are many reasons to end it, and few to keep it. It’s deterrent effect is shaky at best and executions each cost millions of dollars. At a time of scarce resources, we shouldn’t be wasting them on an ineffective and immoral program like the death penalty.
I heard excerpts of Quinn’s speech yesterday and he said that 20 people had been taken off of death row in Illinois due to wrongful convictions or new evidence. 20!!!
Anybody know what the number is in California? I’m hoping it’s lower, but if it’s anything above a handful then that is the stat to lead with when pushing for repeal.
Its expensive because we keep people in jail for life and give them so many appeals. If we executed people it would be cheaper. Reducing the number of appeals and carrying out the sentence in 10 years would reduce the cost.
There is definetely the socio-economic argument but you could easily resolve that by not allowing a death sentence to be carried without DNA confirmation from three independent laboratories.
How is the death sentence less humane than life imprisonment? You’d rather people suffer in proson for decades instead of removing them and the burden the place on society?
This is a typical case where the left always cries about victims but in this case forgets that the victims are those that suffered from the loss of a TRULY innocent person.
Here’s a good case Brandon Wilson. The guy did it, admits he did it and thinks he should executed. Instead we keep this guy around at 50K a year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B…
And to answer the obvious question that comes up – no I’m not a pro-life activist. Not sure how the left justifies abortion but wigs out over the death penalty of murderers. People that don’t value our society, our rules, or our way of life but instead opt to kill the innocents that reside it in. But I’m sure you’ll disagree and thats fine.
RIP Matthew Cecchi