Bob
04-24-2014, 10:08 PM
This came to me via mail so there is no link included. The article explains the source.
Florida Today
Florida Today
https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/t0G6MNbovTkWJl_qH29PohTNrm6tkxTVEfjGHFckwhMj2VGpbU 12O_ix7ZLfuvkc377BF5-TdkmOllfMIO9-yCitGc9gWps0nKlDkw6yhBGHQxYfbEGDFDQm0EucgIPy8b1XLR mQH7ZuakzYi1ANfJealhv5XRyuonhsgeEWqMnKHrRxN9zkaR6y nuE=s0-d-e1-ft#http://floridatoday.fl.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/florida/floridatoday/20140424/4to0701a0424_ocr.pdf.0/img/Image_0.jpg
DON GILLELAND
GUEST COLUMNIST
May 24, 2014
Abolish Florida’s archaic death penalty
Life sentence is cheaper, more humane
It is irrefutable, folks — we kill a lot of innocent people. If that wasn’t bad enough, because of our lengthy appeals process, killing people is very expensive. It is time to bring a little more sanity to our punitive approach.
From the beginning of time, we have said: “It is wrong to kill, and to demonstrate how wrong it is to kill, we will kill you if you kill.” Still, throughout history, men and women have murdered each other.
The traditional humanists conclude that capital punishment is not a deterrent. Of course, they are wrong in a significant sense. There is no recidivism among the executed; they never kill again.
However, it is no easy matter to decide who should be executed. There isn’t much uniformity in sentencing practices in our 50 states.
An individual can be executed in one state for a crime that is not a capital offense in another state. It also is deplorable that three people found guilty of the same crime can be given three different sentences. There have even been cases where an actual murderer was given a prison sentence while his two accomplices were executed.
While there seems to be little uniformity in sentencing, the greater problem is that it is so difficult to play God. Hugo Adam Bedau, in his remarkably comprehensive book, “The Death Penalty in America,” documented 74 instances in which we executed individuals who were later proved to be innocent of the crime for which they were executed.
The manner of their post-mortem vindication took the form of everything from the conventional deathbed confession by the real culprit, to the grimly ironic discovery of the supposed victim very much alive.
The Innocence Project, a wellknown group that works with many inmates to try to clear their names based on DNA evidence, has documented 289 post-conviction DNA exonerations. Florida has exonerated 32 individuals who were incarcerated for crimes they never committed.
Frank Johnson was the first inmate executed in Florida's electric chair on Oct. 7, 1924. In 1929, and from May 1964 to May 1979, there were no executions in Florida. Since then, Florida has executed 85 criminals. The average age of the inmate at the time the capital offense was committed was 29, while the average age at which the criminal was executed was 46.
According to Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, since Florida resumed executions in the 1970s, 24 wrongfully convicted death row prisoners have been exonerated. Saving innocent lives is important, but so is saving money on costly appeals.
According to estimates by the Palm Beach Post , because the lengthy appeals process is so expensive, Florida would save $51 million every year by punishing all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole, instead of executing them.
Much of the civilized world already has abolished capital punishment. Isn’t it time Florida joined them? It’s not only the humane thing to do, but we would eliminate the risk of killing innocent people, and save a truck load of money each year.
Gilleland is retired and lives in Suntree.
https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/T1nYD5faUglp-7xoX4CgVSkeOIvdiuiXuhtF3AWKDRKLHlzsQ_VZ8IzdVuzd2FN iOuufzpYbIcBI0c8YDNDIqBLE1UPajRZTYmJxkvX5R0n7rKSiW 65OAvUyQAPlwmOlCCPaUw3Y8b4BxFjWfSS-OThcibg8CqrVjqQmNmXCQiGSaopg5uigsHedV8E=s0-d-e1-ft#http://floridatoday.fl.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/florida/floridatoday/20140424/4to0701a0424_ocr.pdf.0/img/Image_1.jpg
Protesters to Florida’s death penalty gather across the highway from the Florida State Correctional facility near Starke last year.AP
Florida Today
Florida Today
https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/t0G6MNbovTkWJl_qH29PohTNrm6tkxTVEfjGHFckwhMj2VGpbU 12O_ix7ZLfuvkc377BF5-TdkmOllfMIO9-yCitGc9gWps0nKlDkw6yhBGHQxYfbEGDFDQm0EucgIPy8b1XLR mQH7ZuakzYi1ANfJealhv5XRyuonhsgeEWqMnKHrRxN9zkaR6y nuE=s0-d-e1-ft#http://floridatoday.fl.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/florida/floridatoday/20140424/4to0701a0424_ocr.pdf.0/img/Image_0.jpg
DON GILLELAND
GUEST COLUMNIST
May 24, 2014
Abolish Florida’s archaic death penalty
Life sentence is cheaper, more humane
It is irrefutable, folks — we kill a lot of innocent people. If that wasn’t bad enough, because of our lengthy appeals process, killing people is very expensive. It is time to bring a little more sanity to our punitive approach.
From the beginning of time, we have said: “It is wrong to kill, and to demonstrate how wrong it is to kill, we will kill you if you kill.” Still, throughout history, men and women have murdered each other.
The traditional humanists conclude that capital punishment is not a deterrent. Of course, they are wrong in a significant sense. There is no recidivism among the executed; they never kill again.
However, it is no easy matter to decide who should be executed. There isn’t much uniformity in sentencing practices in our 50 states.
An individual can be executed in one state for a crime that is not a capital offense in another state. It also is deplorable that three people found guilty of the same crime can be given three different sentences. There have even been cases where an actual murderer was given a prison sentence while his two accomplices were executed.
While there seems to be little uniformity in sentencing, the greater problem is that it is so difficult to play God. Hugo Adam Bedau, in his remarkably comprehensive book, “The Death Penalty in America,” documented 74 instances in which we executed individuals who were later proved to be innocent of the crime for which they were executed.
The manner of their post-mortem vindication took the form of everything from the conventional deathbed confession by the real culprit, to the grimly ironic discovery of the supposed victim very much alive.
The Innocence Project, a wellknown group that works with many inmates to try to clear their names based on DNA evidence, has documented 289 post-conviction DNA exonerations. Florida has exonerated 32 individuals who were incarcerated for crimes they never committed.
Frank Johnson was the first inmate executed in Florida's electric chair on Oct. 7, 1924. In 1929, and from May 1964 to May 1979, there were no executions in Florida. Since then, Florida has executed 85 criminals. The average age of the inmate at the time the capital offense was committed was 29, while the average age at which the criminal was executed was 46.
According to Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, since Florida resumed executions in the 1970s, 24 wrongfully convicted death row prisoners have been exonerated. Saving innocent lives is important, but so is saving money on costly appeals.
According to estimates by the Palm Beach Post , because the lengthy appeals process is so expensive, Florida would save $51 million every year by punishing all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole, instead of executing them.
Much of the civilized world already has abolished capital punishment. Isn’t it time Florida joined them? It’s not only the humane thing to do, but we would eliminate the risk of killing innocent people, and save a truck load of money each year.
Gilleland is retired and lives in Suntree.
https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/T1nYD5faUglp-7xoX4CgVSkeOIvdiuiXuhtF3AWKDRKLHlzsQ_VZ8IzdVuzd2FN iOuufzpYbIcBI0c8YDNDIqBLE1UPajRZTYmJxkvX5R0n7rKSiW 65OAvUyQAPlwmOlCCPaUw3Y8b4BxFjWfSS-OThcibg8CqrVjqQmNmXCQiGSaopg5uigsHedV8E=s0-d-e1-ft#http://floridatoday.fl.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/florida/floridatoday/20140424/4to0701a0424_ocr.pdf.0/img/Image_1.jpg
Protesters to Florida’s death penalty gather across the highway from the Florida State Correctional facility near Starke last year.AP