(August 4, 2022 at 1:25 am)bennyboy Wrote:(August 3, 2022 at 8:52 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I don't like the death penalty because it's far too easy on the recipient. Let 'em spend the rest of their days wondering why they're behind bars. And if they're unrepentant, oh well. They get the misery of lifetime confinement.
The problem with justice is that it lessons the intensity of our efforts to prevent. It gives the illusion that there can be balance in the world, and that we are the bringers of balance, through punishment.
I recommend treating crime prevention as a procedural issue, not a justice issue. A dead man is much cheaper, and has an infinitely lower chance of recommitting his crimes. Making tax payers support this guy for $50k / year or whatever in order to torture him psychologically when he can just be removed-- I'd rather have improved health care and a few less pot holes.
On the other hand, society is putting itself in the position of saying "because you broke our laws against killing someone, we're going to kill you."
There's also the whole you got the wrong guy, buddy angle. Pretty hard to undo an execution of an innocent person.
And since we're concerned about the economics and not the morality, how much does it cost to keep a prisoner on Death Row while the appeals wend their way through the system?
So yeah, the economic argument fails for several reasons, two of which it is incapable of addressing at all.
