(August 14, 2018 at 12:11 pm)robvalue Wrote: The non-revenge arguments I can see for the death penalty are the financial burden on society, the potential risk they pose while still alive, and the jail space they take up that has a knock-on effect. I do agree that being killed is somewhat getting off lightly, I'd rather be killed than spend my life in jail anyday.
I used to consider those arguments somewhat persuasive, but I don't anymore. I'm on the side of being against it now. I still think there are complex issues at play though.
It would be nice if there was a magic/polygraph ball that would insure the Hitler/Bundy sickos were the only we'd subject the death sentence to. But I have personally talked to a man released from death row, and another who was in prison accused of killing another prisoner, who later got that sentence moved to life. Both of them were white by the way.
It isn't just the cost for me, but the inequity that more often than not, minorities are far more likely to be railroaded by the system, not to mention there is not enough funding for public defenders to defend the poor.
