Executing justice
Re “When death row runs out of room,” March 30
When death row runs out of room, it may be time to look at other options.
A 2011 study published in the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review revealed that since 1978, California taxpayers had spent about $4 billion more with the death penalty than if those inmates had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Other studies reveal that if the current system is maintained, there will be a cost of $5 billion to $7 billion more than with just life without parole between now and 2050.
Do we really want to invest in a broken, costly system where death row inmates are dying from old age before they are executed? Does execution really deter crime?
When our education system is floundering for lack of resources, would it not be more cost effective to put the money at the beginning of a life than at the end?
Dorothy Goulah-Pabst
Sherman Oaks