[quote]meangenes wrote:
X2, finally a man with some sense.
Let me reiterate.
Punishment is not a deterrent to crime.
Deterence
According to a survey of the former and present presidents of the country’s top academic criminological societies, 88% of these experts rejected the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. (Radelet & Lacock, 2009)
Consistent with previous years, the 2008 FBI Uniform Crime Report showed that the South had the highest murder rate. The South accounts for over 80% of executions. The Northeast, which has less than 1% of all executions, again had the lowest murder rate.
The death penalty costs more than life imprisonment.
Fiscal Facts
The California death penalty system costs taxpayers $114 million per year beyond the costs of keeping convicts locked up for life. Taxpayers have paid more than $250 million for each of the state’s executions. (L.A. Times, March 6, 2005)
In Kansas, the costs of capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-capital cases, including the costs of incarceration. (Kansas Performance Audit Report, December 2003).
In Maryland, an average death penalty case resulting in a death sentence costs approximately $3 million. The eventual costs to Maryland taxpayers for cases pursued 1978-1999 will be $186 million. Five executions have resulted. (Urban Institute 2008).
The most comprehensive study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution over the costs of sentencing murderers to life imprisonment. The majority of those costs occur at the trial level. (Duke University, May 1993).
Enforcing the death penalty costs Florida $51 million a year above what it would cost to punish all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole. Based on the 44 executions Florida had carried out since 1976, that amounts to a cost of $24 million for each execution. (Palm Beach Post, January 4, 2000).
In Texas, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. (Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1992).
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf[/quote]
Nice to see a bit of research to back up your points. I seem to remember the whole problem with the death penalty as a deterrent argument is that generally when people commit a crime they’re either not thinking of the consequences or think they won’t get caught (or both).
Also in my opinion, as soon as even one innocent person is executed the whole system breaks down. It’s tragic enough for someone to be wrongly imprisoned but at least if new evidence comes to light you can release them. It’s kinda hard to un-execute someone however.
My other issue with the fathers actions is that I believe the only time you can make an argument for taking another persons life is to prevent them harming another. If he caught his son in the act and thought the only way he could stop him was to shoot him that would be one thing (though still a bit of a stretch), but finding out after the fact makes his actions unacceptable in my view.
I will admit I am not a father (as far as I’m aware!) but even if I was I don’t think that would give me the right to kill someone who abused my children. I would probably want to, but the thing about being old enough to be held responsible for your actions is that you are also expected to be able to control your urges.