blah Wrote:niuhuskie84 Wrote:RebelKev Wrote:niuhuskie84 Wrote:And what about when an innocent man goes to a chair? Just say oh well? It happens more than anyone wants to admit. Our system is far from perfect or fair. I do not support "eye for an eye". I do not believe in government sanctioned murder.
That's becoming rarer and rarer as forensics has improved.
Do you support abortion?
it may be becoming rarer, but the judicial system is still not fair. there are still police depts which coerce confessions. there are depts that use torture to recieve confessions. unfortunately, lady justice is all too often not blindfolded and there really isnt equal treatment in this country. look at how many rich people are able to buy their way out of things. if you're poor and you go to trail with a public defender, things aren't looking very good for you.
i said in my other post i am against abortion.
I am with you on possible mistakes, but what is the point of being in prison for life without parole? What a huge expense for no reason. Isn't the goal of prison to rehabilitate?
The US prison system has never been about rehab. They might say that, but if you look at the way they're run, its all punishment.
Also, if you look at the breakdown costs between sending someone to death row or sentencing them to life in prison, it is actually
cheaper for the state to have them spend life behind bars. These stats are just for California:
# The California death penalty system costs taxpayers more than $114 million a year beyond the cost of simply keeping the convicts locked up for life. (This figure does not take into account additional court costs for post-conviction hearings in state and federal courts, estimated to exceed several million dollars.)
# With 11 executions spread over 27 years, on a per execution basis, California and federal taxpayers have paid more than $250 million for each execution.
# It costs approximately $90,000 more a year to house an inmate on death row, than in the general prison population or $57.5 million annually.
# The Attorney General devotes about 15% of his budget, or $11 million annually to death penalty cases.
# The California Supreme Court spends $11.8 million on appointed counsel for death row inmates.
# The Office of the State Public Defender and the Habeas Corpus Resource Center spend a total of $22.3 million on defense for indigent defendants facing death.
# The federal court system spends approximately $12 million on defending death row inmates in federal court.