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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The death penalty
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
Lol. Well I certainly don't have any specific figures or studies to back me up, but just think about the cost of food, medicine, etc. for a 30 year old in prison. It just seems like good ole' common sense.
Let's just assume a cheap $3 per meal, 3 times per day...(I'll assume the guy lives to be 75, so 45 years of prison)...3 meals per day = 21 meals per week, or just figure about 1100 meals per year at a cost of $3 per meal = about $3300 per year on food alone. multiply that by 45 years and you've got close to $150K in food costs alone. Let alone costs to operate and maintain the prison, healthcare costs, the cost of the property the prison is on, etc. I have no idea what the total is, but 1 bullet at WalMart probably costs about $0.50. One crank of the handle for the electric chair probably uses $50 worth of power at best (again, guessing, but based on my electric bills, I'm sure it's a reasonable assumption). One needle full of potassium chloride is probably less than $50 too. Point is, you can try to throw in all sorts of intangible costs to justify not taking a life away, but if you just think about the math, I don't understand how it could possibly be cheaper to pay for a person that is alive for years vs. a person who no longer exists. Think about it. IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. Alive or dead, the court costs apply in both cases so it's a moot point. If you're sustaining someone's life, it costs money. If you don't have to pay to sustain a life that no longer exists, it doesn't cost money. There's your answer. No need for politics. Just use your noggin. |
Unfortunately common sense doesn't quite apply to this scenario because I don't think many understand the processes and costs of what it takes to execute someone. Appeals processes take decades which don't even begin to confront the court costs despite the extra 20-30 years in a life sentence. Quite a number of states have done analyses of the costs of capital punishment and they have all been fairly consistent with their conclusions (these exclude studies done by the media which have been fairly consistent).
http://6news.ljworld.com/section/de...ty/story/119087
http://www.comptroller.state.tn.us/...eathpenalty.pdf
http://www-pps.aas.duke.edu/people/.../cook/comnc.pdf
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