Man imprisoned for 26 years freed due to DNA evidence

[OS]

Look- long story short- kids under 16 are too young to know what the hell they are doing.

I was under 16 when I lost my virginity, and I sure as hell knew what I was doing and badly wanted to do it.

[goon attack]

And middle schools are handing out condoms to 12 year olds.

Hmmmmm

Aode, how did you decide on 16 as the benchmark? Just sounded good?

I'd say find out the top of the bell curve for the age women and their partners have abortions and there's your cutoff age for people not knowing what the hell they are doing concerning sex.

[glen a richter]

The reason having the death penalty costs so much more is because, very simply, if you're sentenced to life in prison, you're much less likely to pursue pointless, expensive appeals. As long as you're faced with the prospect of dying, you'll appeal all the way you can go and it costs the state money to conduct all these appeals, while at the same time keeping the accused in prison.

Simple solutions to the problem:

1) For sex offenders who prey on children, non-appealable, mandatory castration, open to the public.

2) For all crimes which presently carry the death penalty, a non-appealable sentence to be selected by the victims family members upon receipt of the verdict. If the guy/girl is acquited then it's over, if they're convicted, then it's up to the family to determine whether they want life in prison or they want to shoot the guy in the face right there (open to the public) -- no appeals.

Eliminate appeals, and you save a ton of money.

[goon attack]

But appeals will never be eliminated so we either ignore the cost angle or we get rid of the death penalty.

Opponents made the moral argument. That didn't work.

Then they made the "innocent" argument. That didn't work.

Then they made the money argument. That didn't work.

Now they are making all of the above and it's not working either.

Those endless appeals are merely a forum for the opponents to make their points and lawyers to practice their "craft"

Look at Gary Gilmore. Dude didn't even want to appeal, he just wanted to be executed quickly. Didn't happen.

Lawyers....who needs 'em?

[the knob]

If it's such a controversial issue (which it is) and it's more expensive to carry out anyway (which, to the best of my understanding, it is) isn't it just easier to lock them away for life? That eliminates the controversy AND saves taxpayer dollars. That just makes more sense to me.

If we're trying to eliminate controversy and save taxpayer dollars, let's get rid of taxpayer money for public schools, especially colleges.

[the knob]

He deserves to be set financially for the rest of his life for the shit he had to go through...

I hate cases like these...

And it happens a lot more than people think, check out the Innocence Project website and their blog.

[WaukeeBlues]

And middle schools are handing out condoms to 12 year olds.

Hmmmmm

how did you decide on 16 as the benchmark? Just sounded good?

I'd say find out the top of the bell curve for the age women and their partners have abortions and there's your cutoff age for people not knowing what the hell they are doing concerning sex.

It's the age of consent, goon- I didn't invent that number. If you're within a certain number of years to the person you had sex with (I think it's 6 but I'm not positive), and the person that consented was at least 16, courts are hesitant to touch it. It doesn't mean it doesn't happen (see that court case in Georgia where that one black kid got an insane sentence for having his 17 year old girlfriend suck it; i digress), but they are less likely to.

I was under 16 when I lost my virginity, and I sure as hell knew what I was doing and badly wanted to do it.

I'm sure you did but my point was that of maturity.

I'm not questioning that SOME are mature enough to start having sex at 16 or younger (you very well might have been- I don't know you so I can't answer that)... only that the majority aren't. THAT is why I think it's a crime according to the government.

If we're trying to eliminate controversy and save taxpayer dollars, let's get rid of taxpayer money for public schools, especially colleges.

If you think taxpayer dollars for public schools and colleges are a waste- that's your business, so rant on.

[WaukeeBlues]

Here goon- I scoured the internet for a source that would paint my statement in a positive light since you demand it

Isn't the death penalty cheaper than life in prison?

* No. It costs a great deal more.
* "Elimination of the death penalty [in California] would result in a net savings to the state of at least tens of millions of dollars annually, and a net savings to local governments in the millions to tens of millions of dollars on a statewide basis." (Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the California Legislature, 09/9/99)
* Total cost of death penalty is 38% greater than total cost of life without parole sentences. (Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, January 10, 2002)
* Since its return to New York in 1995, $160 million has been spent. The New York Daily News estimates that before the first execution takes place, $238 million will be spent.
* In addition to the funds required to try death penalty cases, the New York Department of Correctional Services spent $1.3 million to construct New York's 12-inmate death row and pays nearly $300,000 per year to guard the unit. (New York Law Journal, April 30, 2002)

I still don't know if any of this is absolutely true though. this is why I hate internet sources

You never know about things like this though. Sure there's probably that much money being spent on security, housing, appeals, etc. for death row inmates, but nothing mentions if they considered how much of that would still be spent on them if they were just life-in-prison. I don't have facts to back it up, but I was thinking that MO spends about $25,000 annually per prisoner, which puts it right in line with the NY figure for their death-row unit. By eliminating the death-row unit, those prisoners would be re-absorbed into general population and increase the costs there accordingly.

[/quote]

That's true- the prisons are already busting to the seams, so whats to say if the death rows were moved back into the state prisons that the money wouldn't just be moved there? That's a good point.

[goon attack]

And middle schools are handing out condoms to 12 year olds.

Hmmmmm

how did you decide on 16 as the benchmark? Just sounded good?

I'd say find out the top of the bell curve for the age women and their partners have abortions and there's your cutoff age for people not knowing what the hell they are doing concerning sex.

It's the age of consent, goon- I didn't invent that number. If you're within a certain number of years to the person you had sex with (I think it's 6 but I'm not positive), and the person that consented was at least 16, courts are hesitant to touch it. It doesn't mean it doesn't happen (see that court case in Georgia where that one black kid got an insane sentence for having his 17 year old girlfriend suck it; i digress), but they are less likely to.

I was under 16 when I lost my virginity, and I sure as hell knew what I was doing and badly wanted to do it.

I'm sure you did but my point was that of maturity.

I'm not questioning that SOME are mature enough to start having sex at 16 or younger (you very well might have been- I don't know you so I can't answer that)... only that the majority aren't. THAT is why I think it's a crime according to the government.

If we're trying to eliminate controversy and save taxpayer dollars, let's get rid of taxpayer money for public schools, especially colleges.

If you think taxpayer dollars for public schools and colleges are a waste- that's your business, so rant on.[/quote]

[img:379:380]http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/1396539/2/istockphoto_1396539_garden_tool.jpg[/img]

[the knob]

If we're trying to eliminate controversy and save taxpayer dollars, let's get rid of taxpayer money for public schools, especially colleges.

If you think taxpayer dollars for public schools and colleges are a waste- that's your business, so rant on.

You're the one citing controversy and taxpayer dollars as the reason to eliminate the death penalty, but don't like when the same reasoning is applied to expenditures you like? Typical.

[WaukeeBlues]

If we're trying to eliminate controversy and save taxpayer dollars, let's get rid of taxpayer money for public schools, especially colleges.

If you think taxpayer dollars for public schools and colleges are a waste- that's your business, so rant on.

You're the one citing controversy and taxpayer dollars as the reason to eliminate the death penalty, but don't like when the same reasoning is applied to expenditures you like? Typical.

Forgive me for thinking prisoner execution and the ability for the younger generation to become educated citizens are not comparable.