New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver voiced serious doubts about the necessity for capital punishment in light of its high cost and the alternative sentencing option of life without parole. Silver, who supported the death penalty in the past, said: “I have some doubt whether we need a death penalty…. We are spending tens of millions of dollars [that] may be better spent on educating children.” He also remarked that the life-without-parole statute the state now has in place ensures that those convicted of murder can’t go free. Last year, New York’s Court of Appeals declared the state’s death penalty statute unconstitutional. Any attempt to correct the unconstitutional provisions in the law would have to be considered and passed by the Assembly of which Silver is the Speaker. New York Senate Majority leader, Republican Joseph Bruno, has predicted that the Assembly will not pass a bill attempting to fix the statute.

(Democrat and Chronicle, January 27, 2005). See Life Without Parole and Costs.