On July 25, 2019, Attorney General William Barr, presumably with the agreement of and perhaps on orders from President Trump, reinstated the death penalty for federal crimes after 16 years of no executions. The federal government also scheduled the execution of five death row inmates. But the Supreme Court upheld a stay on these executions, and none have occurred to date.
The question before us, as Americans, is do we wish to execute? My answer is no for the following reasons:
Research evidence makes it clear that capital punishment does not deter murderers. According to Amnesty International, “Scientists agree, by an overwhelming majority, that the death penalty has no deterrent effect. . . . States without the death penalty continue to have significantly lower murder rates than those that retain capital punishment.”
Besides, it costs far more to inflict the death penalty than incarceration for life does. The Death Penalty Information Center argues that “the average cost of a case without capital punishment involved is $740,000. For cases where the death penalty is sought by prosecutors, the average cost off the case is $1.26 million. In addition to the prosecution expenses, the cost of housing a prisoner on death row is $90,000 more per year, on average, then a prisoner in the general population. With the average length of time on death row at 15 years in the United States, housing a prisoner for execution may cost more than $1 million more than housing a prisoner for a life sentence.”
More tomorrow.
Tom Glenn, Writer 
I for one am in favor of this penalty, however, I find that what is wrong with it is that it takes 20 years to fulfill the courts judgement s. I for one think that if this is to be then it should be carried out withing 3 to 6 months of judgement.
LikeLike
I’ll wait until you’ve read tomorrow’s post, Don. Then I’ll reply.
LikeLike