Positional Paper Draft

Christopher Bryan

11/02/2014

English Composition 101

Abolishing the Death Penalty in Washington State

Since 1849, 110 convictions were carried out in the Death Penalty, and nine are currently waiting on death row (“Offenders”), despite Governor Jay Inslee refusing to sign any death warrants while in office (Jenkins). “If a death penalty case comes to my desk for action, I will issue a reprieve... The use of the death penalty in this state is unequally applied, sometimes dependent on the size of the counties budget involved where the crime occurred (Jenkins).” Even though his actions have deterred the final procedures sentenced to inmates on death row, a future governor still has the ability to reverse the reprieve and continue the procedure. For some relatives of victims, this may be a blow to their anticipated closure. Frank Holden's 12-year-old daughter was murdered, causing him grief for over twenty years. “I think his decision has prolonged my agony, not shortened it,” he responds to Austin Jenkins, “It's opened a lot of wounds.” For the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, this is a strong start to ridding the state legislation of future Death Penalties. In response to Inslee's statement on the Death Penalty, they've digitally stated, “Please take a moment to thank the governor for stopping executions on his watch (“Say”)!” Even with begrudged relatives and fierce emotions surging for the Death Penalty to march on, I must plead with the abolishers and ask for this old-fashioned resolve to end in the 21^st century, a time far too late for it's departure. It's not only morally unsound, but it's financially erroneous in comparison with life imprisonment and valueless in deterring crimes.

For the murders of forty-eight women, Gary Ridgway was sentenced to 48 life sentences in 2003, which was stacked to 49 after the remains of another missing person was discovered seven years later (Sullivan, 2011). He is currently incarcerated in Walla Walla, Washington, Washington State Penitentiary (“Find”). Now it isn't hard to find various hangings, followed by few lethal injections for 1^st degree murder cases, throughout the 20^th century. Wouldn't 48 aggravated murders lead to 48 Death Sentences? In some counties, it doesn't matter whether the case can be sentenced with the Death Penalty or not, because, “If we had a death penalty case, and had to pay $1 million (in legal costs), we’d go bankrupt (Martin).” According to Jim Jones, the administrator for Clallam County, including several others, that perusing the death penalty can cause an entire county to spiral into financial despair, so some cases may be passed the Death Penalty while others have the budget to use it. A quote from the article Jonathan Martin wrote on the Seattle Times, “Jones would know about these extraordinary costs: Clallam County spent $1 million in 2013 on the retrial of death-row inmate Darold Stenson, who was first sent to death row in 1994. It was enough to cause a “budget emergency” for the county’s court budget, according to the Peninsula Daily News. The county during this time was so strapped it cut staff by more than 15 percent, with annual $1 million budget shortfalls.” There's not only a lack of consistent moral application of the Death Penalty, but a financial blunder involved with each case.

The cost of the trials itself, just to get sentenced for the Death Penalty, is roughly $470,000 (“Final”). This does not include additional costs, such as court personnel, appellate defenses, and personal restraints, which stacks up the price another 250K. In the USA, between 1982 and 1997, the cost of capital trials was $1.6 Billion (Baicker). Two cases still in progress in King County have already spent nearly $7 million in investigation and preparation, before any trial, sentencing, or mandatory appeals have been made (Sullivan, 2013). If the Death Penalty was ended in Washington state, we'd save $2 million each year in prosecution, defense, and expert witness cases. That's money to fund highways, education, police and fire departments.

“It seems that in the end, however, it is the only fair way to deal with certain criminals past the point of moral reason. It is truly the only way to show that in this country, murder and terrorism will not be tolerated (Gary).” Now, lets look past American-eccentric ego and out to the global community. 140 countries have abolished the Death Penalty, many of them being our allies and members of the United Nations (“The Death”). Fellow members of the permitted Death Penalty club include Afghanistan, North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and us, specifically the United States. There is a different way of resolving crimes and not tolerated terrorism without sentencing human beings to death, life imprisonment without parole. Nobody gets out of it, unless proven innocent with credible evidence, and this isn't the movies, where jailbreaks and bombings coincide within a one and a half hour time span; this is reality. We live in a society that still permits a fading image of justice, because rationality is left-handed and vengeance is our strong suit. In Washington, we can continue to influence other states by abolishing the death sentence and ridding the US of further barbaric practices.

Citations

"Offenders Sentenced to the Death Penalty." Offenders Currently Under Sentence of Death. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

Jenkins, Austin. "Washington Governor Won't Sign Death Warrants." NW News Network. 11 Feb. 2014. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

"Say ‘Thank You!’ to Governor Inslee." Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

Sullivan, Jennifer. "Attorney: Ridgway Likely to Plead Guilty to New Murder Charge." The Seattle Times. 7 Feb. 2011. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

"Find An Offender - Ridgway, Gary L.". Washington State Department of Corrections. 4 Nov. 2014.

Martin, Jonathan. "How the Death Penalty Can Bankrupt a County." The Seattle Times. 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

“Final Report of the Death Penalty Subcommittee of the Committee on Public Defense.” (2006, December 1). Retrieved November 4, 2014.

Baicker, Katherine. "The Budgetary Repercussions of Capital Convictions." NBER. 1 July 2001. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

"Multiple Agency Fiscal Note Summary." 5 Mar. 2013. Web. 4 Nov. 2014. <https://fortress.wa.gov/binaryDisplay.aspx?package=34902>.

Sullivan, Jennifer, "Legal costs near $7 million for defendants in 2007 Carnation slayings," The Seattle Times, September 26, 2013.

Gary, Jordan. "The Death Penalty Should Not Be Abolished | Neon Tommy." The Death Penalty Should Not Be Abolished | Neon Tommy. 1 May 2013. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

"The Death Penalty Worldwide." Infoplease. Infoplease. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.