State-sponsored murder costs too much money
The governors of a bunch of states, including our very own Martin O'Malley, are looking at getting rid of the death penalty because it costs too much.
Kudos to my learned friends who represent capital defendants, at trial and in post-conviction appeals -- you made this happen. This is brilliant -- put in so many procedural safeguards, make it so expensive, that even legislators who just love killing people can't justify it (O'Malley is opposed to the death penalty because he's the fun kind of Catholic, but he's using the cost argument to try to sway others). This is the legal strategy the NAACP used against segregated schools in the 1930s and 40s -- insist on giving separate but equal some teeth, making it so expensive that the segregationists will just give up. If it works for capital punishment, I will be happy happy happy.
On another note, the article I linked to above features a photo of inmates in an overcrowded jail, and what I want to know is this -- how do we expect people to act like decent human beings if we treat them like animals on a factory farm? How about treating these guys -- at least some of whom have likely not been convicted of a crime -- with some respect?
Kudos to my learned friends who represent capital defendants, at trial and in post-conviction appeals -- you made this happen. This is brilliant -- put in so many procedural safeguards, make it so expensive, that even legislators who just love killing people can't justify it (O'Malley is opposed to the death penalty because he's the fun kind of Catholic, but he's using the cost argument to try to sway others). This is the legal strategy the NAACP used against segregated schools in the 1930s and 40s -- insist on giving separate but equal some teeth, making it so expensive that the segregationists will just give up. If it works for capital punishment, I will be happy happy happy.
On another note, the article I linked to above features a photo of inmates in an overcrowded jail, and what I want to know is this -- how do we expect people to act like decent human beings if we treat them like animals on a factory farm? How about treating these guys -- at least some of whom have likely not been convicted of a crime -- with some respect?