Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mulder Unfortunately, it is cheaper to keep him in prison for life than to execute him--considerably cheaper, in fact. The appeals process goes on for years taking up thousands of hours of government resources. It will take at least 10 years before he finally gets executed. |
Going to have to disagree with you on this one Mulder-duder.
As an undergad, I was such a vicious, knowledgable, and liberal eatin' student, that one day they had new Professor interviewing in the department, they had him teach a class that I was enrolled in to see if he could handle me, the idea being if he could survive my onslaught, he just might have a chinace. The professor was against the Death Penalty (hereby known as DP, so no one giggle) and I think everyone knows my stance.
Anyway, he used the same logic as you, that its cheaper to house them. What you are forgetting is that although the appeals process can be costly, we are dealing with someone who is quite young, and could easily live another 40 years. We don't know what the costs of housing prisoners will be in the long term, we can estimate on the short-term, but when dealing with this professor, I had just completed a paper on the the DP and had shown that, in the long run, it WAS cheaper to execute rather than house them. As far as costs, we aren't necessarily talking about room and board, but also long term health care which the state MUST provide.
D.
THE COST OF LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE VS THE DEATH PENALTY
Many opponents present, as fact, that the cost of the death penalty is so expensive (at least $2 million per case?), that we must choose life without parole ("LWOP") at a cost of $1 million for 50 years. Predictably, these pronouncements may be entirely false. JFA estimates that LWOP cases will cost $1.2 million - $3.6 million more than equivalent death penalty cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cost of Life Without Parole: Cases
Equivalent To Death Penalty Cases Cost of Death Penalty Cases
1. $34,200/year (1) for 50 years (2), at
a 2% (3) annual cost increase, plus
$75,000 (4) for trial & appeals = $3.01 million $60,000/year (1) for 6 years (5), at
a 2% (3) annual cost increase, plus
$1.5 million (4) for trial & appeals = $1.88 million
2. Same, except 3% (3) = $4.04 million Same, except 3% (3) = $1.89 million
3. Same, except 4% (3) = $5.53 million Same, except 4% (3) = $1.91 million
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is no question that the up front costs of the death penalty are significantly higher than for equivalent LWOP cases. There also appears to be no question that, over time, equivalent LWOP cases are much more expensive - from $1.2 to $3.6 million - than death penalty cases. Opponents ludicrously claim that the death penalty costs, over time, 3-10 times more than LWOP.
(1) The $34,200 is conservative, if TIME Magazine's (2/7/94) research is accurate. TIME found that, nationwide, the average cell cost is $24,000/yr. and the maximum security cell cost is $75,000/yr. (as of 12/95). Opponents claim that LWOP should replace the DP. Therefore, any cost calculations should be based specifically on cell costs for criminals who have committed the exact same category of offense - in other words, cost comparisons are valid only if you compare the costs of DP-equivalent LWOP cases to the cost of DP cases. The $34,200/yr. cell cost assumes that only 20% of the DP-equivalent LWOP cases would be in maximum security cost cells and that 80% of the DP-equivalent LWOP cases would be in average cost cells. A very conservative estimate. The $60,000/yr., for those on death row, assumes that such cells will average a cost equal to 80% of the $75,000/yr. for the most expensive maximum security cells. A very high estimate. Even though we are calculating a 75% greater cell cost for the DP than for equivalent LWOP cases, equivalent LWOP cases appear to be significantly more expensive, over time, than their DP counterparts. For years, opponents have improperly compared the cost of all LWOP cases to DP cases, when only the DP equivalent LWOP cases are relevant.
Login 
Civilized Debate 
Life in prison, nooooooo parole!!
