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Originally Posted by jcmd61
I don't buy into that politically correct load of crap that the death penalty is supposed to be a deterrent.
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Amazingly, in spite of your usual shrill hatefulness, the apparent belief that you are omniscient and the absurd pretense that your arguments are based on 'proven facts,' on the
particular point above I'm in complete agreement.
I'm completely ambivalent about capital punishment itself--however, I call it what it is:
punishment--and clearly
not a 'deterrent' except in the so-called minds of fools. (Like albed, who apparently believes anything he partially reads is 'formal proof.' lol)
Quote:
Record Number of Americans in Prison
By DAVID CRARY, AP Posted: 2008-02-28 22:20:03
NEW YORK - For the first time in U.S. history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America's rank as the world's No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars.
Using state-by-state data, the report says 2,319,258 Americans were in jail or prison at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults. Whether per capita or in raw numbers, it's more than any other nation.
The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.
The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," the report said.
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The report said the United States incarcerates more people than any other nation, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which round out the Top 10.
The U.S. also is among the world leaders in capital punishment. According to Amnesty International, its 53 executions in 2006 were exceeded only by China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Sudan.
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All punishments are
'supposed' to be deterrents, from jail time for possession of illegal drugs to fines for traffic violations. The problem is they only 'work' on those willing to conform completely and homogeneously to a code of conduct--and this is almost no one. As simply as possible, you cannot judge what will be a deterrent in a world where people have widely divergent values.
Also, according to the FBI, in 2004 only 62% of all homicides were 'cleared,' and in some individual cities this number is as low as 40%. This means, according to best estimates, that over 6000 people 'got away with' at least one murder in 2004. Generally, if someone is going to
premeditate committing a homicide, they are laboring under the pretense that they
will get away with it or at least have a chance of doing so, and statistically they
do have a fair shot at succeeding. If people are willing to gamble with these odds in spite of the fact that there
already is a death penalty in most states, it becomes clear that it being a 'deterrent' is
fantasy.