I was reading this morning's Brown Eye. (After all, it's still free.) On a spread overviewing former Illinois Governor George "I'm not a crook, either" Ryan's blanket clemency that he granted to death row inmates on his way out the door, a number of letters from readers were printed in response to Ryan's actions. One letter stated (I'm paraphrasing) that we shouldn't pay for a lifetime of room-and-board when we can just kill the person.

If you're a sociopath and you kill and molest children and the like, I, for one, don't think you deserve to live. However, I am opposed to the death penalty for exactly the reason that the letter to Brown Eye was 100% wrong. Politicians opposed to capital punishment rarely discuss the issue in this manner because it could be construed as disrespectful of the sanctity of life. Here's the unpopular truth:

The cost of capital punishment is considerably higher than the cost of life imprisonment.

The burden of proof should be exceptionally high. "Without a reasonable doubt," as it applies to a death penalty case, should be regarded as a holy statement, like "love thy neighbor," "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," or "she means nothing to me, baby, I swear."

Thankfully, the burden of proof in a capital case is so-o-o-o-o high. "How high is it?" The burden of proof is so high (i.e., so expensive) in capital punishment cases, often in the millions of dollars, that the goverment spends more money to seek the death penalty than it would cost to incarcerate the criminal for life. At the very least, capital punishment is a waste of money.

Life imprisonment sounds like a fate worse than death to me. If you gave me the choice between living in a box for the rest of my days or the chair, I'd take the chair in a second. Furthermore, if someone I love was brutally murdered, on an emotional level, I'm sure I'd want the murder dead. I think, though, that I'd eventually rest easier knowing that the murder is rotting in a cell somewhere and hopefully getting gang raped. No, I don't think that person deserves to live, but is life in a prison really living?