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Originally Posted by host
Black or white, either leave it open and flawed, or shut it down ?
Why not divert some of the funds expended to incarcerate non-violent convicts
to better funding for legal aid, and pre-case disposition investigators for indigent
defendants, dna testing for inmates who apply for it, (In cases where the evidence to be tested has not been lost or thrown out by prosecutors' offices),
and by a national moratorium of the death penalty, modeled after the Illinois governor's actions in 2000. The cost of death penalty trials and appeals is
much more expensive than incarcerating inmates serving life sentences.
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The death penalty ill leave alone (fyi, I don't think it's any sort of deterrent to crimes). But why shouldn't non-violent crimes carry the same penalty as violent crimes? If I punch my neighbor, he has some pain and possible medical bills (and maybe long-term problems, rarely death but it's a possibility). Now if I embezzle a retirement fund, not only my neighbor but possibly hundreds of others might be out of a means of living later in life, why should my crime be less? Or if I take pcp, and flip out and kill someone I obviously deserve punishment. But doesn't the person who sold the illegal substance also deserve some form of punishment?