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| Death-penalty system wastes precious tax dollars |
| By azcentral.com - Bob Basque |
| Published: 07/02/2012 |
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The execution Wednesday of Samuel Lopez once again showed that the death penalty is a wasteful and expensive exercise. The killing of Lopez accomplished nothing more than picking at the scabs of some very old wounds, while disingenuously dispensing empty promises of "closure." As one member of Estefana Holmes' family stated after the execution, "there are no winners" in this situation, rather only a whole host of losers. Of course, the biggest loser was Estefana Holmes, who was brutally murdered. Obviously, people that commit heinous crimes should be punished severely. Modern correctional facilities are entirely capable of safely containing individuals such as Lopez, at a fraction of the cost of the wasteful death-penalty system. Lopez, by all reports, began his life in appalling circumstances. (Circumstances no judge ever heard about because of technical barriers.) Subjected to horrendous trauma as a child, he turned to the relief of paint fumes, other drugs and alcohol, which in the end, according to the testimony of a physician at the hearing, caused neurological damage and dysfunction in his brain. That is not an excuse for his having committed a brutal murder; however, it does provide perspective. Millions of our tax dollars are wasted each year on this pitiful exercise, tax dollars that could be better used in many ways. Numerous rapes and homicides go unsolved and the money wasted on death-penalty cases should instead go toward supporting law-enforcement efforts to catch these killers and rapists who now walk free on our streets. This would bring real justice to more victims and make our families safer. Had Lopez been sentenced to live out the rest of his life within the secure walls of an Arizona Department of Corrections prison, the family of the victim could have moved toward finality decades ago. Would it have brought back their loved one? Of course not, but the execution of Lopez did not bring back Holmes either. The family of murder victims deserve respect and justice. The death penalty heartlessly traps these survivors in decades of uncertainty, forcing them to relive the trauma for years and years. Read More. |
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Instead of the media always complaining about the cost of the death penalty, and calling for legislation to end it due to these costs, why not get to the real issues related to the death penalty. The cost of death row has been forced by lawyers who earn millions of dollars filing an unreasonable amount of appeals. They are supported by liberal activists and Hollywood elite, and a just as liberal media who cares more about a murderer than they do the victims. The lawyers use their money and the influence of their powerful media and Hollywood friends to encourage legislation to give these murderers more and more appeals and rights. The sad thing is that in stories such as this one, the writer goes on and on about how the family of the victim has to suffer after all these years of waiting, using the family members statement that “there were no winners” as a means of saying that the family did not support this either. However I did not see a quote directly saying the family members did not support the death penalty. Maybe, if the media started showing a little more empathy for the victim’s families of these heinous crimes, they would start calling for legislative reform of the ridiculous appeal system. Maybe they would call the lawyers on their greed in terrible circumstances, and push for time limits, and wage limits for lawyers milking the state of millions of dollars. You can’t tell me that a system where a convicted murderer has a limited set of appeals within a certain time frame would not be cheaper than warehousing a murderer for the rest of his life. Take away their huge profits. But this isn’t really about money, and we all know this. It is about a liberal agenda. It sure is sad though when you see one of these liberal activists who become a victim of crime, and how fast they jump to the other side when they are the one offended, not just some name in the paper.