Another Reason To End The Death Penalty

I have believed for many years that the death penalty just doesn't make sense. There are many reasons for this -- it's cruel & unusual punishment, it lowers the state to the criminal's level, killing is wrong for any reason (except self-defense), it doesn't deter future violent crimes, and far too many innocent people are sent to prison (and possibly death row).

But none of these reasons have seemed to appeal to a majority of people -- especially in states like Texas where the right-wing Republicans rule the government. These right-wingers want their pound of flesh. To them, revenge is the same as justice.

But there now may be a reason to do away with the death penalty that will appeal to right-wingers -- saving money (and therefore preventing tax increases). It seems that greed is just as powerful as revenge for some right-wingers. Take for example, Judge Donald McCartin of California (who has earned the nickname of "the hanging judge" because of the large number of death penalties he has issued). McCartin is a self-professed right-wing Republican, but he wrote an editorial a couple of days ago for the Los Angeles Times calling for ending the death penalty. Here is some of what he said:

I watch today as Gov. Brown wrestles with the massive debt that is suffocating our state and hear him say he doesn’t want to “play games.” But I cringe when I learn that not playing games amounts to cuts to kindergarten, cuts to universities, cuts to people with special needs — and I hear no mention of the simple cut that would save hundreds of millions of dollars, countless man-hours, unimaginable court time and years of emotional torture for victim’s family members waiting for that magical sense of “closure” they’ve been falsely promised with death sentences that will never be carried out. . .It’s time to stop playing the killing game. Let’s use the hundreds of millions of dollars we’ll save to protect some of those essential services now threatened with death.

I'll take whatever reason a person wants to give, even saving money, as a reason to end the death penalty. I personally think some other reasons (like possibly executing an innocent person) are more important, but if saving money works then that's Ok with me.

Here in Texas we have as big a budget problem as California does (and we execute a lot more people). This state is looking at a huge budget shortfall (about $27 billion) for the next biennium. And the Republicans in charge of state government have promised to balance the budget for the next biennium without raising taxes or using the "rainy day fund" ( a few billion dollars the government has been saving for an emergency).

It would make sense that Texas politicians would also consider doing away with the death penalty. Texas would probably save more money than any other state by doing this. But I doubt it will even be considered. Our Republican-dominated state government takes pride in killing more people than any other state in the union (nobody else even comes close). They would rather destroy education, deny children medical care, kick the elderly of out nursing homes, cut money for the homeless (even veterans), deny treatment for the mentally ill, and cut nearly everything that helps ordinary Texans. But they don't mind wasting money (that we don't have) to kill people in the name of the state.

Now I don't feel sorry for people that commit heinous crimes. They need to be separated from society -- sometimes for the rest of their miserable lives. But life in prison with no possibility of parole is a better option than killing them (and it's reversible if we find later that they were innocent).

Texas needs to stop killing people and calling it justice. If the immorality and irreversibility of it is not a good enough reason, then how about because it'll save the state many hundreds of millions of dollars? Is killing people more important in Texas to right-wingers that budget-cutting?