Julie:
I have been sick with bronchitis and have not been on line very much in the last couple of days. I reviewed the site you recommended. Here are some of my thoughts:
First, you mention in one of your posts: "Oh my, but you are in denial aren't you? Why don't you just have a look at some of the headlines around the nation and see the $50 million+ pricetag on the McVeigh thing alone."
You also seemed frustrated with my request for citing your sources, expressing that you don't recall chapter, page and paragraph. I did not request such, only a reliable source. The reason I requested at least one credible source is that when discussing some issues, such as financial matters with You Know, I see how he relies heavily on Lyndon LaRouche for information. I wanted to see what you rely on for sources. You cited the following:
http://www.uscourts.gov/dpanalty/4REPORT.htm
This appears to be as good a source as any, although I have not yet taken the time to research any others. Here is what your cited report stated with respect to the average adjusted costs of federal death penalty cases:
The average total cost for authorized cases ending in capital trials was $269,139,(13) as compared to $192,333 for authorized cases." ... "Drug conspiracy cases (including both CCE and RICO prosecutions) are the most expensive federal death penalty cases to defend. The total cost of representation in drug conspiracy cases in which the prosecution authorized seeking the death penalty averaged $244,185,(19) or nearly 12 percent more than the average total cost of all authorized cases."
First, I find that a 12% increase cost over all authorized cases is not all that significant. Second, if McVeigh's trail and legal costs approached $50 Million price tag you mentioned, then obviously this greatly affects the overall averages, such that the mean average total would be considerably less than the $269,139 cited in the Report.
I will have to check and verify my next comment, but I have a recollection that the cost to house a prisoner, provide food, clothing, medical care, parole hearings, excluding the costs of lifelong legal representation for appeals and other legal support, will cost the taxpayers about $40,000 per year. If a prisoner, such as McVeigh, enters the prison system at age 30 and dies in prison at age 80, the overall 50 year costs for basic needs, inflation not factored in, will be about $2,000,000. (Keep in mind I need to check on the figure I gave.)
Assuming that McVeigh's trial cost the $50 Million you cite, it was well above the average for federal death penalty cases which averaged $269,000. Had this high profile case not been a death penalty case, I can only imagine that its price tag would have still been in the tens of millions.
My point is that I do not see cost as the basis to determine whether a case is tried as a death penalty case, or life in prison. There are too many variables to be certain just exactly what the taxpayer would have saved were McVeigh given life in prison.
Assuming, however, that McVeigh would have been tried in a non-death penalty case, what would have been the actual costs? The Report you cite says that death penalty cases average about 12% more than non-death penalty cases. So, we might calculate the following:
$50 Million less 12%: =$44,000,000
Life in Prison =$ 2,000,000 (My Assumption)
Legal appeals, etc. life =$? (unknown)
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Actual cost to taxpayer =$46,000,000 + legal appeals, etc. for life
Actual savings to taxpayer =$4,000,000 or less depending on McVeigh's lifelong appeals and other legal haggling.
I do not like the idea of the death penalty anymore than I like having criminals harm us. But, the signal sent is that when a criminal violates someone's normal right to life, then the crimninal forfeits his/her own right to life. End of story. If my estimates and calculations are in correct or if other data shows that I am in serious error, then I will admit such error. My objective here is not to prove I am right about anything. My main objective is to express my opinion that the Death penalty in limited cases, such as McVeigh's is a just and fair execution of the will of the people at large. - Amazing
