John Allen Muhammed Executed in VA at 9:22 pm

I'm surprised that the execution took place so quickly. Very often, prisoners condemned to execution live on for many, many years while appeals wend their way through the courts. An argument against capital punishment which i have heard advanced by opponents to the practice is that, with the cost of lengthy appeals and special, separate incarceration, it is in fact cheaper to warehouse the killer for the rest of his or her life rather than to execute them, and bear such burdens as that. I have not read the entire thread, so i don't know if the question of why he was so speedily executed has been addressed.

I object to execution because i know of no plausible evidence that it deters others from killing, and by the execution, the state relinquishes any claim to moral superiority in the matter. I continue to suspect that this is usually a case of what Nietzsche describes in Beyond Good and Evil when he lists all the putative purposes of penal servitude and execution, and then dismisses them, claiming that the ultimate purpose is revenge, and the gratification of the desire for vengeance by society. I may have stated that imprecisely--it's been by now almost 40 years since i've read that book. I do think, though, that for many of those who support capital punishment, their protestations notwithstanding, the object is vengeance.

Were it not for the vengeance motive, I believe the death penalty would by now be a relic of the past.

4That argument that Life without parole or that extended appeals housing actually costs less doesnt hold wawa.

North Carolina Spends More per Execution than on a Non-death Penalty Murder Case
The most comprehensive death penalty study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million more per execution than the a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life imprisonment (. On a national basis, these figures translate to an extra cost of over $1 billion spent since 1976 on the death penalty. ("The Costs of Processing Murder Cases in North Carolina" Duke University, May 1993)

Florida Spends Millions Extra per Year on Death Penalty
Florida would save $51 million each year by punishing all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole, according to estimates by the Palm Beach Post. Based on the 44 executions Florida has carried out since 1976, that amounts to an approximate cost of $24 million for each execution. This finding takes into account the relatively few inmates who are actually executed, as well as the time and effort expended on capital defendants who are tried but convicted of a lesser murder charge, and those whose death sentences are overturned on appeal. ("The High Price of Killing Killers," Palm Beach Post, January 4, 2000)


Florida Spent Average of $3.2 Million per Execution from 1973 to 1988
During that time period, Florida spent an estimated $57 million on the death penalty to achieve 18 executions. ("Bottom Line: Life in Prison One-Sixth as Expensive," Miami Herald, July 10, 1988)

In other news, while I still feel as strongly as ever that rapists, child molesters and other repeat violent offenders should be killed along with murderers, in considerably larger numbers... recent experience with courts and juries has convinced me that humans can't be trusted with the responsibility of making this decision... so I am forced to retract my support for the death penalty in most cases... until such time the ultimate decision is mine to make.

You can't tell the difference between the names of people on a list and the people themselves? I see. Now I'm beginning to gain an insight into your thinking processes. No wonder you support capital punishment.

Perhaps this is just semantics, but to me a deterrent is a warning to others, not the offender.

Were it not for the vengeance motive,

I believe the death penalty would by now be a relic of the past.

If you had been paying attention, Tico, you would have noticed that O'BILL didn't renounce his support for capital punishment, he just stated that he couldn't support capital punishment as it is currently practiced. He still wants to kill convicted murderers (and rapists and child molesters), just in a more fair and efficient manner.

Try to keep up.

But rather than debate with me, why don't you ask him yourself? It's not like you have O'BILL on ignore or anything, do you?

OCCOM BILL wrote:

We've been here too many times, Joe. This is where I list examples of murderers sentenced to life who've killed again...

You've posted lists before, but not of murderers sentenced to life without parole who have killed anyone outside the prison walls. And that's the only list that has any kind of relevance where the options being discussed are capital punishment and life without parole.