Capital Punishment...

Many people all across the United States debate whether or not capital punishment is humane and/or cost effective. Well, we cannot really debate on whether or not it is humane because it's up to each individual person to determine what is morally humane in their own mind. In my opinion, if someone takes the life of another willingly and openly they don't deserve their own life. So, the only real thing to debate is whether or not capital punishment is cost effective.

We should first look at some things that are involved in costs for the death penalty VS life without parole and with parole.

Costs for both the death penalty and life with or without parole:

- Guard wages
- Utilities
- Food
- Appeals (more so for capital punishment, but both sentences receive a great deal of appeals)
- Mechanism (lethal injection, gas, etc.) for death
- Funeral services (some states actually pay for a casket and burial plot) for death
- Materials (depending on the state and security of the prison, this could be televisions, weight lifting equipment, security systems, locks, etc.)
- Maintenance of building
- ...and the list can go on

Now, if you research information online about the cost of death VS babying someone in prison the rest of their life you'll find a great deal of conflicting information. First you'll notice that each state has a large difference in costs depending on how much they will spend on the list above. Second you'll notice the different years projected in each report. Third you'll notice that different reports for the same year and same state have conflicting information (due to the different items being budgeted). Fourth you'll notice that if someone is pro death they will tweak the report to their advantage, and vice versa with someone anti death. So research cannot necessarily be done online because of the conflicting information. Even when I wrote in to the Utah State Penitentiary asking about where to find costs of the death penalty VS life without parole in Utah they gave me different sites that conflicted with one another. An exact answer just does not exist.

So what do you think as readers? What is your opinion on the entire matter? Would you support capital punishment? Do you think it costs more either way?

My opinion is as follows: either way we'll pay money that we don't have. People on death row have the right to an appeal. Sometimes these appeals can last years and years. What happens to the inmate while they are waiting? Well, they are kept alive by our tax dollars while the courts are using our tax dollars to do whatever they do exactly. In many cases that I've read the inmate dies on death row before a date for his/her death is even decided. What a waste of money in my opinion.

I support capital punishment for moral reasons, but for financial reasons there is not enough evidence to say it is more cost effective.