We all want to live in safe communities. The truth about the death penalty is that is makes us less, not more, safe. Given the severe budget restraints that exist in our criminal justice system, it is high time to consider whether maintaining our costly and largely symbolic death penalty system is being smart on crime.
We are in a recession. The criminal justice system is hardly immune from the downturn in our economy. Police departments are cutting back, state employees are being furloughed, trials are being delayed, and layoffs are common in prosecutors’ and public defenders’ offices. The justice system was already overburdened—now it is being pushed to (and some would argue, past) the breaking point. The death penalty in this state is an enormously expensive and wasteful program with no clear benefits. All of the studies on the cost of capital punishment conclude it is much more expensive than a system with life sentences as the maximum penalty. Perhaps most importantly, the death penalty rarely results in what it promises.
In this state, only slightly more than 1% of the eligible cases results in an execution. Stated in the converse, we spend millions and millions of taxpayer dollars on a system that fails 99% of the time. We can no longer tolerate such wasteful spending. The death penalty without executions is a very expensive form of life without parole. We could redirect millions of taxpayers’ dollars every year to community safety and services for victims and still lock up murderers until their death if we ended the death penalty.
Over the last decade, opposition to the death penalty on practical grounds has grown rapidly. This Nation’s police chiefs rank the death penalty last in their priorities for effective crime reduction. The officers rate it as one of most inefficient uses of taxpayer dollars in fighting crime. Instead, lack of law enforcement resources, poor funding for drug and mental illness treatment, and crowded courts were listed as the problems that most need fixing. Sadly, these problems need fixing here, as recent events have vividly demonstrated.
Clearly, eliminating the death penalty cannot solve all of these problems, but the savings would be significant. Where comprehensive studies have been done, the excess expenditures per year for the death penalty typically are close to $10 million per state. If a new police officer (or teacher, or ambulance driver) is paid $40,000 per year, this death penalty money could be used to fund 250 additional workers in each state to secure a better community.
In 2009, eleven state legislatures considered bills to end capital punishment and its high costs were part of these debates. As the economic crisis continues, the trend of states reexamining the death penalty in light of its costs is expected to continue. It is time for Washington to join this growing list.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Lost Opportunity Costs
Recently, a prosecutor explained his practical opposition to the death penalty: "I can successfully prosecute 10 murders or 30 sexual abuse cases in the time that it will take to do one death penalty case. Then, even if I get a death sentence, it will likely be overturned somewhere down the line. I'd rather give murder victims families closure now--get a conviction, put the guy in prison for life, forget about him, and let's help the victims rebuild their lives."
In short, the death penalty is costly, comes with a high reversal rate, and results in lost opportunities to provide real community safety and more community support for victims.
In the wake of the murders of four polcie officers by Maurice Clemmons, the Governor and various state legislators have called for a variety of criminal justice reforms. Those reforms will cost money and may not get put in place simply because of budget concerns. That would be a shame. Why not take money from the administration of the death penatly and fund those reforms? We are throwing away good money chasing something that we don't get and meanwhile lose the opportunity to do things that will work.
Rather than spend millions seeking a death sentence for the person who shot Officer Tim Brenton, why not take the money and put five new officers on the street?
Gov. Gregoire has a great idea--we should guarantee a fully paid college education for the children of the fallen officers. I agree. Let's get rid of the death penalty and instead of paying for decades of lawyers for killers, let's pay for four years of college education.
The death penalty is costly, both in terms of dollars and in lost opportunity costs. Those costs will not go away. Those costs are a required part of the administration of the death penalty--any judge, police officer or prosecutor will tell you that.
If we abolish the death penalty, we can save millions. We can also make our community safer, while providing services to victims.
Our criminal justice system, which is critically underfunded, is not working the way it should. On that point, we can all agree.
If we elimate the gallows, we will still sentence killers to die in prison--when their time is up. The difference will be instead of spending millions on the small chance that we'll execute one guy every decade or so, we can start making real reforms that can, at their best, prevent the next murderer from roaming free.
In short, the death penalty is costly, comes with a high reversal rate, and results in lost opportunities to provide real community safety and more community support for victims.
In the wake of the murders of four polcie officers by Maurice Clemmons, the Governor and various state legislators have called for a variety of criminal justice reforms. Those reforms will cost money and may not get put in place simply because of budget concerns. That would be a shame. Why not take money from the administration of the death penatly and fund those reforms? We are throwing away good money chasing something that we don't get and meanwhile lose the opportunity to do things that will work.
Rather than spend millions seeking a death sentence for the person who shot Officer Tim Brenton, why not take the money and put five new officers on the street?
Gov. Gregoire has a great idea--we should guarantee a fully paid college education for the children of the fallen officers. I agree. Let's get rid of the death penalty and instead of paying for decades of lawyers for killers, let's pay for four years of college education.
The death penalty is costly, both in terms of dollars and in lost opportunity costs. Those costs will not go away. Those costs are a required part of the administration of the death penalty--any judge, police officer or prosecutor will tell you that.
If we abolish the death penalty, we can save millions. We can also make our community safer, while providing services to victims.
Our criminal justice system, which is critically underfunded, is not working the way it should. On that point, we can all agree.
If we elimate the gallows, we will still sentence killers to die in prison--when their time is up. The difference will be instead of spending millions on the small chance that we'll execute one guy every decade or so, we can start making real reforms that can, at their best, prevent the next murderer from roaming free.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Abolition in Washington State...
....begins on Friday, January 22, at 1:30, when there's a hearing in Olympia, WA before the Senate Judiciary Comm. More details to follow.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
