DNA and dollars are killing capital punishment

[Judi Lynn]

DNA and dollars are killing capital punishment
Date: February 12 2011

The cost of sentencing people to death is changing the minds of cash-strapped states, writes Simon Mann in Washington.

America's financial predicament is having an impact on nearly every aspect of life - and even death. Cash-strapped states are being forced to rethink their commitment to the death penalty amid evidence that it costs at least three times as much to execute criminals as it does to lock them up for life.

The new budgetary imperative is set to keep US execution rates on their decade-long downward path, a trend precipitated by the advent of DNA evidence and a widening acceptance of the judicial system's fallibility.

Last year 46 people were executed in America, less than half the number in 1999, the peak in the three decades since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment.

More:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/dna-and-dollars-are-killing-capital-punishment-20110211-1aqj8.html?skin=text-only
(Sidney Morning Herald)

[MrModerate]

1. I have always maintained that the social, human, and monetary costs . . .

of capital punishment are simply too high. I feel vindicated now.

[udbcrzy2]

2. Maybe they need to invest in DNA and stop these ridiculous appeals. n/t

[dotymed]

3. This IS a cause

that G.W. Bush would donate to....fry 'em all....that evil bastard.

[Demeter]

4. Only in the Most Heinous, Inhuman Cases Would It Be Appropriate

[pacalo]

5. DNA tests are costly & the cost is on the defense. If a state can mete out punishment

by death, it should be mandatory for the state to pay for a DNA test for each conviction.