tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037030002547566426.post-25007502154939118222007-12-14T14:09:00.000-05:002007-12-14T14:09:00.000-05:00Regarding cost: from <A HREF="http://www.ncadp.org/index.cfm?content=5" REL="nofollow">NCADP</A>: It costs far more to execute a person than to keep him or her in prison for life. A recent New Jersey Policy Perspectives report concluded that the state's death penalty has cost taxpayers $253 million since 1983, a figure that is over and above the costs that would have been incurred had the state utilized a sentence of life without parole instead of death. "From a strictly financial perspective, it is hard to reach a conclusion other than this: New Jersey taxpayers over the last 23 years have paid more than a quarter billion dollars on a capital punishment system that has executed no one," the report concluded. Michael Murphy, former Morris County, NJ prosecutor, remarked: "If you were to ask me how $11 million a year could best protect the people of New Jersey, I would tell you by giving the law enforcement community more resources. I'm not interested in hypothetical or abstractions, I want the tools for law enforcement to do their job, and $11 million can buy a lot of tools."<BR/><BR/>Regarding justice: Nor will killing the perpetrator bring back the dead victim. Since that's not possible, we have to figure out what society we want to live in. My preference is not eye for an eye.Tylerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03612597481070757876noreply@blogger.com