IMHO, the death of even ONE innocent person invalidates any benefit to be gained by state-sanctioned murder. And the likelihood of our having executed innocent men or women is much greater than the likelihood that you (or I) would be personally harmed by anyone who got life without parole as opposed to the death penalty.

When you consider that some courts have ruled that DNA evidence proving that someone else is guilty of a crime does not mean that the innocent person incarcerated must necessarily have his conviction vacated, or even be allowed parole, the presumption of innocence is simply rhetoric.

And education. … the functional illiteracy rate … is also a good predictor in society over all for future criminal behavior and illiteracy rate is actually used as a predictor of future prison needs and budgeting here.

If this be true, Mexico and Canada may start insisting upon the completion of the security walls at the borders, for their security. Got to keep the inmates in.

IIRC the illiteracy rate was about 10% and the functional illiteracy rate was about 10% and from personal observation there is an effective illiteracy rate of another 20% (observations taken a decade and a half ago). From reports emanating from the homeland, those rates are increasing geometrically as the educational system fails to educate.

What gets out from the corporate media, their lineup of babbling heads et al, and the circus attending public meetings on the health (insurance) care, a 60% effective illiteracy rate is not out of the question. How does this read in your predictor of future prison needs?

Illiteracy here is the inability to read and derive meaning from printed words: functionally illiterate is the incapacity to read and derive meaning from printed words without great effort: effective illiteracy is the failure to make an effort to read and derive meaning from printed word.

Let’s take a hypothetical. Ed Gein, for example, a serial killer, or Ted Bundy, also a serial killer. Why should we not kill them? What’s the justification?

Ummm, because we are better than they are?

This is a trick question right?

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California developed those shocking numbers. The ACLU claims that executing all those on death row would cost about $4 billion more than if they had just been given life without the possibility of parole.

Which is probably from the ACLU-NC’s page here