Death by Spatula

 "I brought you in to this world...I can take you out too" . I remember my mother saying this on occasion. I remember she was always cooking when she said this.(maybe holding a knife or spatula in her hand gave her that powerful feeling...I don't know)  But thank God my mother never had to follow through with that, because death by a spatula would not be a pretty sight.

I know there has been alot of talk about the death penalty in the news lately with the Davis case (who was put to death last Wednesday) and it got me thinking on whether or not I truly believe in it. I have always said I did....but after doing a little investigating work.(ok I googled it) I am not so sure now.
 I am a God fearing man and for the most part, I love everyone and everything that life offers. (Except doing the dishes and laundry...I really HATE those two things) (thank God my wife doesn't hate them as much as I do) (or does she?) Nah.....anyways.... :)

I used to think this:
I do have compassion and I also believe in second chances.....but when you take someones life (on purpose) its only fitting that you should die too. An Eye for an Eye and a Life for a Life.

I think a little differently now and I will tell you why...but first let me give you a little history lesson. I googled a lot of stuff for this research so I have to share :)

 Death by law has been around for so many years that you would think it would deter people from committing  crimes. That's why the death penalty started in the first place. In fact it has been around since the eighteen BC. Back when they would execute people for things such as marrying a Jew, not confessing to a crime, and treason. Some common methods of execution at that time were boiling, burning at the stake, hanging, beheading, and drawing, quartering and spatulaing  )ok,  I threw spatulaing in there just to see if you were paying attention. (but really? boiling? that's just not right.)
 Back in the 1700s there were 222 things that you could do that would get you the death penalty. It got a little bit of reform when the Europeans brought the death penalty to America , then... only things like stealing grapes, killing chickens, and trading with Indians would get you the death penalty.
There were many reforms throughout the years regarding the death penalty to include such exceptions  such as mental illness, race , religion, and juveniles.
Fast forward to now. 58 countries retain the death penalty, including China, Iran, the United States, and Vietnam all of which rank among the highest for executions.
 There was 3200 people on Death Row at the beginning of 2011 in the United States. That may not seem like a large amount of people, but remember that not all states have the death penalty. (16 do not) We only execute murders and rapist of children nowadays. And only average about 100 executions per year. I just don't understand that...if there is 3200 people on Death row....that means that they were tried and found guilty and the sentence was death...why wouldn't we see to it that we follow through on our end and kill them in a timely fashion? That ratio is worse than credit card interest rates...you make the minimum payment but your debt just keeps growing....it just doesn't make sense to me.

So the real question....How much does all this cost the Tax payers? Please read some of these startling amounts.

• The California death penalty system costs taxpayers $114 million per year beyond the costs of keeping convicts locked up for life. Taxpayers have paid more than $250 million for each of the state’s executions. 
 
•     In Kansas, the costs of capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-capital cases, including the  costs of incarceration.
•  In Maryland, an average death penalty case resulting in a death sentence costs approximately $3 million. The eventual costs to Maryland taxpayers for cases pursued 1978-1999 will be $186 million. Five executions have resulted.  
•  The most comprehensive study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution over the costs of sentencing murderers to life imprisonment. The majority of those costs occur at the trial level.

Enforcing the death penalty costs Florida $51 million a year above what it would cost to punish all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole. Based on the 44 executions Florida had carried out since 1976, that amounts to a cost of $24 million for each execution.

•  In Texas, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years

OK ...so now you know the costs ...and for that reason and that reason alone, I don't agree with the death penalty the way it is today. It just isn't working people. Why should we be paying more than the price it would cost to keep a murderer in jail for life? Either kill them right away like they did in the old days....or lock them up for life with no parole and be done with them. Locking them up in a cell with Bubba still cost the tax payers money, but it would at least cut our losses financially. Maybe my type of thinking is just to Black and White.

So now I think this:

Should the people on Death Row die? Yes

Is the Death Penalty a consequence? Yes...just not one Im willing to pay for.

Do we have to kill them just because there is a Law that says we can? No...lock them up and throw away the key and be done with them.

Should we institute Death by Spatula for Death Row inmates? Yes...it might deter people in the future. It worked for my mom. :)

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