We can’t afford the death penalty

[Fleshdancer]

I thought this was interesting...

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/04/we-can%e2%80%99t-afford-the-death-penalty/

From California to New York, dozens of newspapers are declaring that state governments can no longer afford the death penalty.

The Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., recently reported that the death penalty is too costly. Maryland spent $37 million per execution in the past 28 years. In Florida, home to the second largest death row in the country, the cost estimates are $24 million per execution. California’s cost is $250 million per execution, according to a Los Angeles Times article cited in the report. These states are among 36 states that have the death penalty and, like nearly every state, are going through a financial crisis.

The outrageous price that taxpayers bear in order to kill a handful of prisoners has been thrown into sharp relief.

Legislators in New Mexico, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, Montana, New Hampshire, and Colorado are now calling for a repeal of capital punishment, not only to help balance budgets but as a necessary first step in redirecting scarce resources toward genuine public safety measures such as investigating unsolved homicides, community policing, modernizing crime labs, expanding mental health services and other more effective crime prevention programs.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Expanding Mental Health Services.

A good social worker, especially psychiatric, is at the tip of the civil spear when it comes to crime prevention and maintenance of civil society. Far more than police will ever be.