Indonesia to execute six drug offenders

[Thumpalumpacus]

The thing about the death penalty is you have to weigh up all the problems with not executing airtight murder cases:

1) If they are released or they escape, needless innocents may die.

Prison escapes are incredibly rare, especially from maximum security facilities.

2) The tax payer has to fund them being kept alive.

The appeals process makes Death Row the most expensive form of imprisonment. The fact that a crime may be treated capitally means that the trial costs are dramatically higher, as well.

But frankly, even if the death penalty is cheaper overall, I'd still rather pay a little more to ensure that irreversible injustice is not committed in my name.

3) The prisons are fuller so that there's less room for other crimes and sentences end up being reduced artificially.

The total imprisoned population in America in 2013 was 1.574 million. The number on Death Row awaiting execution was 2,979 -- i.e., .0018%. Even if we killed every one of them today, we wouldn't open up much room. Of course, the US actually executes 30 - 50 prisoners a year, so you can see that in real numbers, the beds opened up by the DP are far lower.

Note also that this point goes to expenses as well; we don't save very much money, as a proportion of the prison budgets -- if any at all, given the immense legal expenses borne by the state for the indigent defendants.

4) Another reason probably. Not at my best today.

I know it's far from clear cut, but I come down slightly on the side of the DP not as punishment, but to protect society from those who have proven unsafe to ever be in it.

I agree that there's a place for the death penalty, and you're right: dead convicts don't recidivate. But I also want to ensure that our justice system is as fair as possible, and this penalty is one of the extreme examples of its unfairness, both in terms of how it's applied racially, as well as the inherent inability to rectify the unfairness at a later date.