Chief Judge William Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit recently spoke about the death penalty to a gathering at the Charleston School of Law in South Carolina. He commented that decision-makers will have to evaluate whether the punishment is worth its increasing financial costs. But he also noted how difficult it is for a politician to speak openly about this issue: “I think politically, you’re not going to find a candidate running on ‘Let’s do away with the death penalty,’ ” Wilkins said. “No one (in South Carolina) can be elected to statewide office who is opposed to the death penalty.”
Wilkins said other options should be explored that would save money and still preserve the imposition of justice. One alternative he mentioned was ensuring life in prison for murderers but without the chance of parole. “Think about it, what would you prefer?” he asked the students: death or life confined in a cage? He noted that the tens of millions of dollars spent on the death penalty could go to education or health care. He described the imposition of the death penalty in the U.S. as “a hit or miss thing.”
(Charleston Post & Courier, Sept. 15, 2006; Associated Press, Sept. 14, 2006). See New Voices, Costs, and Life Without Parole.