Maryland close to eliminating death penalty

[Condunum]

No, really.

Maryland’s Senate voted Wednesday to repeal the death penalty, moving the state one step closer to joining 17 others that ban capital punishment.
The Senate voted 27-20 to pass legislation that would replace execution with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. The bill must be approved by the House of Delegates before becoming law.

Gov. Martin O'Malley said he was pleased with the vote.

"We remain hopeful that we will see a similar outcome in the House," he said in a statement. "It's time to end this ineffective and expensive practice and put our efforts behind crime fighting strategies that work."

Maryland has five inmates on death row, although no executions have been conducted since 2005. The state has carried out five executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

“The vote in the Maryland Senate to end the death penalty is in line with an emerging trend away from capital punishment around the country,” Richard Dieter, the center’s executive director, said in a statement. “Death sentences and executions have sharply declined, and now states are taking the final step toward eliminating the death penalty.”

So my state is replacing the death penalty with life-sentencing. Personally, I think this is another great step towards fixing the broken prison system. What are your thoughts, NSG? Progress, or stupid move?

[Saruhan]

Good on you Maryland, took you bloody long enough though

[Disserbia]

Hurray for Maryland!

[Faolinn]

Please let it be so.I pray they will choose the path of wisdom.

[Evil Siamese Cats]

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The journey is to have a functioning prison system. The single step is to abolish the death penalty. OK, this "single step" is more of a day's hike, but still...I guess what I'm saying is that this is a very good thing for MD and other states need to follow suit, but there's still a long way to go.

Sadly, I come from a state that is in love with the death penalty. (Not TX. Ohio. It's like TX but has snow on the ground.)

[Condunum]

Good on you Maryland, took you bloody long enough though

Indeed it has. I hold Maryland to be a very progressive state, but we do have some rather bass ackwards things.

[The Serbian Empire]

Good on you Maryland, took you bloody long enough though

And Michigan never had the death penalty in the first place so this is long overdue for Maryland to eliminate the death penalty when Michigan has been around for nearly 180 years without it.

[Rereumrari]

Have fun paying for the rent, medical needs, and food of convicted murderers. Don't worry, i'm sure he will learn his lesson if he ever escapes.

[The Serbian Empire]

Have fun paying for the rent, medical needs, and food of convicted murderers. Don't worry, i'm sure he will learn his lesson if he ever escapes.

It's still cheaper than the legal appeals to put someone to death. Yes, those appeals are all paid by the tax payer.

[Saruhan]

Have fun paying for the rent, medical needs, and food of convicted murderers. Don't worry, i'm sure he will learn his lesson if he ever escapes.

It actually costs less than executing them, but whatever, don't let facts get in your way

[Rereumrari]

Have fun paying for the rent, medical needs, and food of convicted murderers. Don't worry, i'm sure he will learn his lesson if he ever escapes.

It actually costs less than executing them, but whatever, don't let facts get in your way

1 death needle<50 years rent, food, medical care. Unless we are injecting the guy with gold and diamonds, there is no way.

[Condunum]

It actually costs less than executing them, but whatever, don't let facts get in your way

1 death needle<50 years rent, food, medical care. Unless we are injecting the guy with gold and diamonds, there is no way.

nevermind the cost of the appeals process for death row inmates. But that would ruin your stupid little fantasy about death row somehow being beneficial.

[The Steel Magnolia]

C'est magnifique!

[Condunum]

Have fun paying for the rent, medical needs, and food of convicted murderers. Don't worry, i'm sure he will learn his lesson if he ever escapes.

It actually costs less than executing them, but whatever, don't let facts get in your way

The only way it could really cost less is by removing the appeals process, which is both a gross destruction of rights and a shout that essentially would say, "Hey! We think that anyone we put on death row could never have been wrongly convicted!"

[Frisivisia]

Another step to a less shitty society.

[Rereumrari]

1 death needle<50 years rent, food, medical care. Unless we are injecting the guy with gold and diamonds, there is no way.

nevermind the cost of the appeals process for death row inmates. But that would ruin your stupid little fantasy about death row somehow being beneficial.

That has nothing to do with the cost of him actually being in prison for decades on in. He will still seek appeals if he has a life sentence, so that cost is a constant no matter what sentence he is given.

[The Steel Magnolia]

Someone should really link the dozens of sources and preempt the "it's cheaper!" argument.

[Condunum]

nevermind the cost of the appeals process for death row inmates. But that would ruin your stupid little fantasy about death row somehow being beneficial.

That has nothing to do with the cost of him actually being in prison for decades on in. He will still seek appeals if he has a life sentence, so that cost is a constant no matter what sentence he is given.

No it's not. The appeals process for death row inmates are more expensive, on account of the fact that we're planning on killing the person. So we give them far more appeal opportunity.

But if your only concern is the cost, something is wrong here.

[Condunum]

Someone should really link the dozens of sources and preempt the "it's cheaper!" argument.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty
Some nice information about total cost there.

http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.ans ... nID=001000
This is what you're looking for, though.

[Rereumrari]

That has nothing to do with the cost of him actually being in prison for decades on in. He will still seek appeals if he has a life sentence, so that cost is a constant no matter what sentence he is given.

No it's not. The appeals process for death row inmates are more expensive, on account of the fact that we're planning on killing the person. So we give them far more appeal opportunity.

Appeals over a lifetime in prison will still add up to be the same as someone who spends a year appealing on death row. It's a constant and will cost the same over time no matter what. You only add more to the cost when you start paying for his rent for decades.

[Frisivisia]

No it's not. The appeals process for death row inmates are more expensive, on account of the fact that we're planning on killing the person. So we give them far more appeal opportunity.

Appeals over a lifetime in prison will still add up to be the same as someone who spends a year appealing on death row. It's a constant and will cost the same over time no matter what. You only add more to the cost when you start paying for his rent for decades.

Source?

[Dooom35796821595]

Have fun paying for the rent, medical needs, and food of convicted murderers. Don't worry, i'm sure he will learn his lesson if he ever escapes.

was it not one of the founding fathers that stated "it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer"
relevance is that if you kill someone you can't unkill them and apologise, and allow them a chance to live there life.

[Tlaceceyaya]

No it's not. The appeals process for death row inmates are more expensive, on account of the fact that we're planning on killing the person. So we give them far more appeal opportunity.

Appeals over a lifetime in prison will still add up to be the same as someone who spends a year appealing on death row. It's a constant and will cost the same over time no matter what. You only add more to the cost when you start paying for his rent for decades.

Source?

[Condunum]

No it's not. The appeals process for death row inmates are more expensive, on account of the fact that we're planning on killing the person. So we give them far more appeal opportunity.

Appeals over a lifetime in prison will still add up to be the same as someone who spends a year appealing on death row. It's a constant and will cost the same over time no matter what. You only add more to the cost when you start paying for his rent for decades.

Even if this is true, why should we have the death penalty?

[Rereumrari]

Have fun paying for the rent, medical needs, and food of convicted murderers. Don't worry, i'm sure he will learn his lesson if he ever escapes.

was it not one of the founding fathers that stated "it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer"
relevance is that if you kill someone you can't unkill them and apologise, and allow them a chance to live there life.

Yes and they also were fine with the Death Penalty even though they also included the "cruel and usual" clause in the 8th amendment, which means the death penalty was never meant to be illegal or unconstitutional.