As we are approaching a nation wide economic recession, states are trying to find alternatives to the costs in their jurisdiction. 8 states are choosing to abolish the death penalty as a way to conserve money, Colorado being one of them. There has and probably always will be an argument over the morality of the death penalty, but now, as a result of the financial stress, people are more interested in saving money than being moral, which is why states are now considering abolition. Why is there a Problem with the  There is a growing trend to expand the range of death
penalty-eligible crimes. In fact, there are more people on death row at this
time than any other in the United States’ history. Since 1977, nearly 1,100
have died from capital punishment in the 38 states where it is legal within
America. (Mac Nair) On average, 77 people are sentenced to death per year, and
it costs $250 million per sentence. When you do the math, it turns out that
$1750 million of your tax money goes toward this system, which does not even
deter crime. How do you know it's more expensive? That couldn't possibly be right... could it? According to the Economist, studies have proven the capital punishment process to be pricier than without: The intensive jury selection, trials and appeals required in capital cases can last for over a decade, making it much more costly tha  If it's so Expensive, why is it still there? I couldn't tell you why it is still there except for reasons of retribution. The death penalty not only fails as a solution to the problem of violence, but because of the excessive costs of execution, it interferes with a wide range of preventive programs that have proven to work well. Re-arrests are becoming frequent as prisoners only serve 20% of their time in Texas. Georgia is firing 900 police officers and New Jersey has dismissed 500 (Dieter). California did not have any money to fund community policing, but they are somehow coming up with $90 million to spend on capital punishment. Texas i s spendingA almost $3.2 million for every one of its 300 or more people on death row, and it still has some of the highest homicide rates in the country (Amsterdam, et all). As money is spent on the death penalty, it is thus less available for the very programs that are the backbone of the effort to reduce crime in this country. Yet these same states, and many others like them, are granting unprecedented amounts of money to the death penalty with no reduction in crime as a result. What can be done to change this? Is there a better alternative? Yes. HB 1274, a policy that has been proposed by Paul Weismann, house majority leader, has already been passed in Colorado by the house. This bill recognizes that there are more cold cases, or cases that haven't been solved, in Colorado than there have ever been on death row in the history of Colorado. It proposes to abolish the death penalty, as it is expensive and we rarely use it, and use the tax dollars payed to the death penalty to fund an improved cold case unit. TO VIEW MORE DETAIL ON: WHY ITS A PROBLEM, WHAT ALTERNATIVES THERE ARE WHAT IS THE BEST ALTERNATIVE or HOW TO TAKE ACTION |