The Death Penalty

The past couple of days there have been news reports of two long-delayed executions. That, and the fact that I have been called for jury duty next week, has lead me to contemplate the issues surrounding the death penalty.

Being somewhat old-fashioned and analytic, I tend to address these sorts of questions with the use of a Ben Franklin balance sheet, thusly:

Attributes of the Death Penalty

Positive:

• Recidivism rate is zero.
• Some crimes are so heinous that they demand the death penalty.

Negative:

• Some innocent individuals are convicted.
• Typically it takes many years to carry out the sentence - "Justice delayed is justice denied."
• The many, many appeals cost the tax payers a lot of money.
• The cost of incarceration of a death-row inmate is a lot more than for a "lifer".

I could go on, but these, I think, are the major points. My conclusion after weighing these aspects of the death penalty:

• Philosophically I am very much in favor of the death penalty, BUT
• Unless we can return to the days of the old west and carry out the sentence within thirty days there is no practical value to imposing the death sentence.