http://mr-hoju.blogspot.com/

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Student_found_dead_in_Kentucky_house/articleshow/2765590.cms

thanks for the clarification. Australia has abolished the death penalty for 40 years but strangely continues to argue for the death penalty for the Bali terrorists ( beats me). I dont think statistics can or should be used in an non-recourse matter like capital punishment. Taking of life is a moral issue – not one easily amenable to statistics. Islamic Justice seems to be more practical in this case.

This is actually a good point, there should be some retribution other than “sorry, we messed up” Like remember at the end of the movie Sneakers, where they all ask for free sh*t.

Based on your numbers, it costs $2.5 million per person over 60 years (if they start at 20 and are in prison till 79.5 or 80. This is overstating it since all death row inmates dont start at 20 and all do not stay till 80). The cost per year is then $2.5 million/ 60 years or $41,667 per year. There are 3,350 death row inmates in the US as of Jan 2007 (deathpenaltyinfo.com). So the total cost per year to maintain death row inmates is $41,667 per year x 3,350 inmates per year = $140 million. As of Jan 2003 (the best data I could get quickly), there were 131 million americans who filed income taxes. So then cost per taxpayer is $140 million per year / 131 million taxpayers = $1.09 per taxpayer per year. The cost of a value meal at McDonalds.

YOu can argue for cp based on other ethical/moral factors but dont tell me it costs too much to keep them alive.

I’m not — I’m a political economist [similar "logical" argument style, though] Thanks,nonetheless, for your response — I really do appreciate it. I’m sorry to hear that this is an issue that has affected you so directly, and I’m sorry if I caused additional distress. I’ll look forward to future exchanges, perhaps on topics that don’t hit quite as close to home.

Now even if the death penalty is imposed, it drags it out for 10-20 years, so what with the legal fees, it probably costs more in the long run than life-imprisonment.”

Camille. No problem Camille–I think you are a lawyer, n’est-ce pas? I have seen your comments and you do lay your positions out clearly and objectively, though I don’t always agree. You are absolutely right about concentrating too much on murder, but let’s face it, that’s what brings out the cold sweat and attempted murder is something I personally experienced (not as perp). Few of us fret as much over the possibility that some corporate nonentity will steal our 401K. One reason there isn’t more murder is because a lot of people arrange their lives around avoiding it. One must not let personal opinions cloud one’s judgment and if my kid turned out to be a cold blooded remorseless killer, I’d feel the same justice should apply as to any cold blooded, remorseless killer. In fact if I ever kill anybody in cold blood, I hope they off me quickly. When you ask for stats I can only go so far because frankly looking too much at this subject is upsetting to me and perhaps I should not have engaged in this discussion. I go by what I have read in the past.

A national average (or national total) for the annual cost of maintenance of death row. I can just divide that by number of taxpayers to get an annual cost per taxpayer. (I am not sure if this is being too simplistic.). So if this is something like a few dollars per tax payer per year, it then removes the perception of undue burden on the taxpayer. Also, I didnt think of the cost of executions as you mentioned. So then I guess a net number would be most effective.

(Annual cost of nationwide death row maintenance – cost of executions nationwide) / number of taxpayers.

We could then compare this to things like (cost of war in Iraq per year)/number of taxpayers