Reader Comments on Death Penalty Issue
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Britt R:
I don't think your stats are correct. Or maybe i am just very confused... or maybe the stats
have changed DRAMATICALLY over the last decade. But i am researching the financial pros and
cons to capital punishment and keep coming up with countless contradicting stats. I am finding
it hard to know what to believe versus what i Want to believe. I have alot of trouble thinking
someone one death row (in the long run) is going to raqck up more "debt" ot cost more to take
care of than a person spending the rest of their life in prison.
Excerpt from your webpage:
"Most people don't realize that carrying out one death sentence costs 2-5 times more than keeping
that same criminal in prison for the rest of his life."
Excerpt from http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/DP.html#D.Cost which i know looks biased and old but
spells it out for me):
"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"
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Pat R:
The death penalty is typically equated and embroiled within a schematic of moral virtue and application,
often with religious undertones - to deter that any human person should be able to make that decision for
another person.
What is rarely debated, however, is the cost/benefit analysis of rehabilitation vs the kinds of other decisions
that are made common under a similar cost/benefit analysis - as for example, the damages associated with a
housewife or a disabled person whose income is anticipated to be relatively low.
Damages in those cases are not near those associated with corporate executives who, for example, make hundreds
of thousands of dollars, or employed males who make tens of thousands of income - for which no moral virtue
appears to be the deciding factor of what damages are appropriate.
Yet, society places more value upon prisoners who may spend most of their "primary earning years" locked up, and
refuses to apply the death penalty in the same or similar principle of what any human life is worth based upon
who does the killing and who can be held responsible for it, or for how much.
Illogical from the onset - because of varying earning capacity - it can only value lives based upon their income
in the most discriminatory of methods.
If cost/benefit to society is the measure, all elderly would be expendable, and all prisoners by virtue of the fact
that none produce more benefit to society than they cost.
Application of disparate interpretations do not serve society well, and actually increase discrimination that most
laws prohibit.
Without addressing the issue of the death penalty and the standard upon which it applies, or the wrongful death suits,
and the standard upon which they apply to award damages, society has little basis to view human life within a logical and workable framework.
If people are in prison their whole lives, they offer no utility to society, and therefore, should be wholly expendable
by the wrongful death standard already implemented.
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Christopher K:
Against the death penalty: It tells the world what
is deeply valued in the American Dream and Soul. At present we tell the world we
choose murder to solve our most difficult problems. Our "culture of death"
extends to the unborn, the terminally ill, the politically opposed and the to
the criminal (the one individual who would dare, for any reason, act like our
government does today). When will our leadership take control and say "The value
of each life is too great for us to deliberately waste it in an act of terror as
shameful as the act for which one is being punished".
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Susannah K:
As I was researching for a paper I am writing on whether or not the
death penalty is an effective deterrent for crime, I came across your
webpage on BalancedPolitics.org. I must confess, your site was
exactly what I had been searching for, but I found an error. You
state that DNA testing almost 100% of the time rules out room for
error, but I think you should also add the following points. Often
times, wrong DNA samples are picked up. It is not necessarily the
case that all the DNA samples at a crime scene are that of the
murderer. While taking a course on Genetics this summer at the John's
Hopkins CTY program, we learned about the myriad errors that forensic
investigators often make, but lazy prosecutors overlook in their
attempt to prosecute as quickly as possible. I hope that you will
look into this because it is a common misunderstanding that DNA
matching is the end all of an investigation, but this is far from
true.
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Daniel P:
In response to the reader about DNA statistics. The one percent that your article
has mentioned is a very large number. DNA is taking away the chances of convicting
an innocent person. There is no such thing, as a "perfect crime." And today's
technologies in crime fighting have come along ways, even since the infamous
Simpson trial, there has been improvements in the way evidence is gathered for
DNA investigations.
Yes I'm a supporter of the death penalty. It would solve a lot of problems, including
over population in our prison systems.
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B.A.:
I read your wonderful website and thought you may be interested in this
story. After I read this book Journey Toward Justice. I am now my own Journey
Toward Justice. I feel the more people know about these issues maybe some
things will change. At one time I wrote this about the book I read. Who And
Where Is Dennis Fritz, You may say after reading John Grisham's Wonderful Book
"The Innocent man", Grisham's First non-fiction book. The Other Innocent Man
hardly mentioned in "The Innocent Man" has his own compelling and fascinating
story to tell in "Journey Toward Justice". John Grisham endorsed Dennis Fritz's
Book on the Front Cover. Dennis Fritz wrote his Book Published by Seven Locks
Press, to bring awareness about False Convictions, and The Death Penalty.
"Journey Toward Justice" is a testimony to the Triumph of the Human Spirit and
is a Stunning and Shocking Memoir. Dennis Fritz was wrongfully convicted of
murder after a swift trail. The only thing that saved him from the Death Penalty
was a lone vote from a juror. "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham is all about
Ronnie Williamson, Dennis Fritz's was his co-defendant. Ronnie Williamson was
sentenced to the Death Penalty. Both were exonerated after spending 12 years in
prison. Both Freed by a simple DNA test, The real killer was one of the
Prosecution's Key Witness. John Grisham's "The Innocent Man" tells half the
story. Dennis Fritz's Story needs to be heard. Read about how he wrote hundreds
of letters and appellate briefs in his own defense and immersed himself in an
intense study of law. He was a school teacher and a ordinary man from Ada
Oklahoma, whose wife was brutally murdered in 1975. On May 8, 1987 while raising
his young daughter alone, he was put under arrest and on his way to jail on
charges of rape and murder. Since then, it has been a long hard road filled with
twist and turns. Dennis Fritz is now on his "Journey Toward Justice". He never
blamed the Lord and solely relied on his faith in God to make it through. He
waited for God's time and never gave up.
