The Rape of Justice 

The concept of justice has been reduced to the rants of politicians (do I hear G.W. Bush at the back?) who care nothing about finding truth, but who's words are based upon opinion polls and the dramatic dogma of the execution chamber.

The death penalty should be abandoned, except in cases of extremely dangerous criminals where the only safeguard from them committing further crimes is death. I do not feel this way out of sympathy for those convicted, but out of sympathy for the victims and their families. Most persons who have committed a crime heinous enough to result in that person's death as punishment do not deserve such an easy escape. When a prisoner must go through trial after trial and typically spend 10-15 years on death row, execution is a simple way to avoid incarceration.

Research shows that 60% of prisoners would prefer life in prison to the death penalty, but I believe this decision is highly influenced by the knowledge that life in prison consists of three meals a day, cable television, weight rooms, and other wonderful taxpayer provided privileges. If prisoners knew that after conviction they would rot the remainder of their lives in dark, padded steel cages with but one or two simple meals a day, I believe the majority would choose death.

Cages would not be appropriate for the ''average'' murderer, but only for those who would otherwise receive death as punishment. Solitary confinement would be a more effective deterrent as well as a far more just penalty. It would also be more economical. The average cost for a murder trial in L.A. County in which the death penalty is sought, is $1,898,323. For the same murder trial in which the death penalty is not sought, the total cost is $627,322. This difference of $1,271,001 per case is enough reason to abolish the death penalty. Since 1997, 3,182 inmates have received the death penalty in the United States. If those trials cost an average of only $ 1 million each (about half the cost of an L.A. County death penalty trial) the total would surpass $300,000,000,000. It is estimated that the state of California would save $90 million annually by adopting a sentence of life without parole in place of capital punishment. A 1982 study found that if the death penalty were to be reintroduced in New York, the capital trial alone would be more than twice the cost of life in prison. Again, it would be even cheaper if prisons were not so user friendly.

This is more than enough reason to severely limit the use of capital punishment. The great dramas asking the question, "Life or death?" would be replaced by justice, a concept which has been slowly raped by politicians armed with tipped scales and blinded by red tape.