National Coalition to Abolish The Death Penalty (Fact Sheet)

[BamaLefty]

Corporal punishment is a sad occurrence in America IMO. I see no justification... but whether you agree with me or not, I thought these facts were pretty interesting.

Capital Punishment costs more than life without parole:

* Various state governments estimate that a single death penalty case, from the point of arrest to execution, ranges from $1 million to $3 million per case.
* Other studies have estimated the cost to be as high as $7 million.
* Cases resulting in life imprisonment average around $500,000 each, including incarceration cost.

http://www.ncadp.org/fact_sheet3.html

[BamaLefty]

1. Innocence

NNOCENT PEOPLE ARE ON DEATH ROW AND HAVE BEEN EXECUTED:

* More than 114 people have been exonerated from death row since 1972, including 23 from the state of Florida alone. (Death Penalty Information Center)
* The system of capital punishment is flawed at both the state and federal level. On the federal level, 3.5% of persons whom the Attorney General has attempted to execute have been innocent. In one example of state-level problems, Illinois (prior to Governor Ryan’s blanket commutation) had an error rate of at least 4.5%. (American Civil Liberties Union)
* A study identified 23 instances in the last century in which a person with an extraordinarily strong case of innocence had been executed by the government. (H. Bedeau & M. Radelet, “Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases” Stanford Law Review, 1987) Since 1987 8 cases have been reported.

http://www.ncadp.org/fact_sheet4.html

[Freedom_from_Chains]

2. Of course the Freeper response to these facts is:

It's because we mess around to long after conviction, you know due to activist judges, bleeding heart liberals, and adhering to the constitution, and that is what drives the cost up. If, we were to after conviction, take em out back and hang em, we would significantly drive the cost down.

"Tell you what we are going to do. First, we're going to give you a fair and impartial trial, then, we're going to take you out back and hang you". - Judge Roy Bean in "Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean".

[BamaLefty]

3. Oh yeah... judicial activism

like Gore v. Bush of 2000?

Damn RW. They are sooooooooooo full of shit.