Maryland Needs to Repeal the Death Penalty -- Now
There are few events that can be considered true turning points in the moral life of a people. But Maryland will face one this week, as the State Senate is expected to vote on Tuesday on whether to repeal the death penalty and replace it with the punishment of life imprisonment without parole.
Over the last few weeks, I've asked Marylanders to urge their state senators to end capital punishment in our state. It's an issue on which good people disagree, but I believe we will fail our children and ourselves if we allow state executions to continue.
The reasons for my conviction are based in pragmatics and in principle.
First, the death penalty is not only a completely ineffective tool in deterring violent crime, it's an expensive one. Earlier this year - after months of expert testimony - the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment found that pursuing a capital case is three times more expensive to taxpayers than pursuing a non-death-penalty homicide conviction. It's a price of $3 million versus $1.1 million - funds we could be using to help victims' families, or to prevent more crimes from happening - and more families from suffering the same pain.
Second, repealing the death penalty will help us continue to make Maryland a safer state by allowing us to focus scarce resources on crime-fighting tactics and strategies that work. I've spent my whole career -- as mayor of Baltimore, and now as governor -- working with Maryland communities to make our streets safer. In Baltimore, we reduced violent crime in Baltimore by 40 percent by restoring our community's confidence in our system of justice and innovative policing.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gov-martin-omalley/maryland-needs-to-repeal_b_171236.html
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