To Free the Truth

The death penalty is wrong for 3 reasons. First, it is bad philosophy. Killing a killer to prove killing is wrong does not make sense.  Second, it is bad politics. America’s standing in the International community is hampered because most civilized nations no longer permit the death penalty. And it is not practical. It costs more to execute defendants than to imprison them. The death penalty is bad morals, politics, and economics.

-Kenneth Michael White, attorney

In every uninformed capital punishment discussion I’ve ever read, heard, or jumped into, at least one person has made statements regarding the financial aspect of executing offenders. Most of the time it’s about not wanting to waste tax dollars housing inmates in jail for life. This is exactly how you know that it’s an uninformed discussion.

Anyone who has looked at the research regarding the death penalty can tell you that it costs hundreds of thousands more dollars at the least to prosecute a death row offender, have a separate trial for sentencing, go through the appeals process, and to house a death row offender than it does to put him in prison for life without the possibility of parole. This is why several states have recently begun to look at abolishment from an economic standpoint. With the latest financial catastrophe, many states are facing serious revenue problems and see abolishment as a possible answer. It’s an issue that every state should consider (and not just for economic benefit). Here are some examples:

The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice estimated the annual costs of their death penalty system to exceed $130 million annually. To abolish capital punishment and replace death with life without parole, the annual cost projection is only $11.5 million. California could be saving over $100 million each and every year. Yet, this state refuses to fund community policing systems which are proven to reduce crime rates. Why? Government officials claim they have no money for it. 

The initial cost of a Federal capital trial is over $600,000 which is 8 times as much as a trial which avoids death and uses life without parole instead. This is only the trial and does not include cost projections for appeals and housing. Currently there are 44 inmates on Federal death row. Just considering those 44 people, the amount of money which could have been saved exceeds $23 million dollars. The fact of the matter is that there have been 162 Federal capital trials. The math here brings an astounding amount of money spent which could have been used elsewhere if life without were the punishment sought–over $85 million dollars on the trial alone. 

In Maryland, which just put strict limitations on imposing capital punishment, the costs to taxpayers for utilizing the sentence since 1978 will be $186 million more than life sentences would have cost. In cases seeking death, the average cost is 2 or 3 million more dollars than a non capital case. Just considering the 5 who have been executed and the 5 still waiting execution, that’s a savings, on the low end, of $20 million dollars. There were 106 cases in which death was sought but not used which have cost more than $70 million. 

New Jersey, which abolished last year, has spent more than $253 million since 1983, according to a Policy Perspectives report. No one was executed in the state during that time. That’s roughly $11 million annually that could have been spent elsewhere especially considering the sentence was never carried out. 

Tennessee death penalty trials cost taxpayers an average of 48% more than non capital cases. There are 102 people on death row in that state. 

A Kansas study found huge differences in costs. Investigation costs for death cases were 3 times as much. Capital trials cost 16 times non capital ones. Appeals in death penalty cases are 21 times greater. On the whole, capital cases are 70% more expensive averaging roughly $1.6 million while non capitals cost only $740,000. There are currently 9 on the row there.

Florida could save $51 million annually by eliminating capital punishment. Studies have shown that capital cases cost an average of 6 times the cost of non capital cases. 

Texas spends over $2 million on each capital case which is about 3 times as much as cases seeking life. With over 300 inmates on death row, the projected savings of a quarter billion dollars or so just on the cases which have ended in a death sentence translate into a lot of state revenue which could have been spent to more deserving programs such as those which attempt to protect citizens.

In each state utilizing capital punishment, the story remains the same. Millions of tax dollars are spent each and every year to kill inmates rather than put them in prison for life. Funds are pulled from education, crime prevention, other areas of corrections, and more. In Texas, other offenders only serve 20% of their sentences to pay for death. Florida has done the same; thousands of prisoners are released early every year. Inmates which rob, steal, injure, and even sexually assault others. Yet, we still believe political rhetoric. Each year, we hear about politicians who are taking a tough stance on crime. In doing so, they advocate death, death, and more death. And with this, they fool us. Advocating death as a measure of toughness is a ploy. The death penalty has yet to prove any sort of deterrence at all whatsoever. Study after study fails to show it as do statistics. Dollars are taken from programs that prevent crimes from ever occurring and are used in arbitrarily killing those offenders deemed worthy of receiving the needle–which can hardly be called fair, accurate, or balanced. There is no cost benefit. Instead, the dollars used to kill could be used to prevent victimization from the start. As Richard Dieter stated in his article, What Politicians Don’t Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty, “In today’s depressed economy, the criminal justice system is breaking down for lack of funds while states pour money into the black hole of capital punishment expense.”

What we ultimately have is an extremely flawed system which focuses on punishment instead of prevention because death makes us seem tough. Politicians equate prevention with a soft on crime stance that is equivalent to political death. They would rather have, at the end of the day, our citizens be victimized so they may prove their intolerance of crime rather than propose our funds be used in alternative programs which protect us. And, people constantly fall for it. 

Unemployment rates are on the rise as we continue to see cutbacks–law enforcement and correctional guards are included in that. Criminals are back on the streets earlier and earlier. Taxes in local jurisdictions rise to meet the financial demands of a death trial. In order for our society to fuel it’s desire to kill in the name of, we end up with a great deal of unemployed, uneducated members who have no where to turn for help. Do I see a cycle being created here? Oh, yes. Yet, there is no benefit that counterweights this growing list of negatives. Not one–unless you count exacting a state sponsored revenge, an act of violence intended to counteract violence, as a benefit. 

Personally, I’m dumbfounded by the logic and I’d also much rather see my “tax dollars” being used to support someone in prison than to the drain that is capital punishment.

A  Q & A with Robert Pruett and Lee Taylor:

In 1995 Harris County (Houston, Texas) led the nation in adult certification.  In an attempt to reduce the expanding juvenile crime rate, over 150 juvenile offenders (ages 14-16) were certified as adults.  Any kid charged with an aggravated crime or in possession of a large quantity of dope was certified as an adult and transferred to the Harris County Jail to await proceedings in the adult judicial system.  For many of us, this meant lengthy prison sentences in the TDCJ-ID as opposed to being placed in the TYC where we would receive proper treatment and be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society one day.
The following is an interview conducted by Robert Pruett and Lee Taylor, two of the certified juveniles from Harris County in 1995.  Robert was certified on 10/31/95 at the age of 16.  He was then convicted under the law of parties for murder and sentenced to 99 years in the TDCJ-ID.  Lee was certified on 11/17/95 at age 16 and was convicted of two counts of aggravated robbery/cc and sentenced to an Aggravated Life Term in the TDCJ-ID.

Q. What exactly does it mean to be certified as an adult?

Robert: It means that you’re dealt with in accordance to the State Penal Code which offers a wider range of punishments and you’re placed in an institution (TDCJ) where rehabilitation isn’t highly valued versus one (TYC) that’s geared towards rehabilitation and child development.

Lee: Basically, Robert covered it. I’d only add that you’re locked inside a cage for a longer period of time, with no reprieve, no second chance. I believe I would have grown out of my wild, teenage ways, seeing as I have grown into a man that regrets the actions of a boy eleven years ago.

Q. Prior to your certification, did you undergo a psychological evaluation and take other tests to determine whether you should be tried as an adult?

Lee: Man, all they had me do was play with little blocks.  That’s about it!

Robert: I talked to a man, but he seemed to be more concerned with my case rather than my maturity. I recall playing with blocks too, but I don’t know how blocks can tell if a person understands right from wrong or whether he’s capable of making decisions that will effect the rest of his life.

Lee: Yeah, I wasn’t coked up or high while playing with those blocks either!

Q. What went through your mind the day you were certified as an adult?

Lee: I realized that I was about to face a system that I had no knowledge of. I was scared, clueless as to what was actually happening. I just felt helpless, like I was caught in a river and couldn’t swim to shore. I felt total despair.

Robert: Yeah, I didn’t really know what they were doing to me either. All I remember is feeling scared because the staff at the Juvenile Detention Center told me that if I was certified, I’d have to fight off grown men for my manhood in the county jail. That wasn’t easy to deal with at age 16.

Q. Harris County apparently used those certified in 1995 as examples. How do you feel about being used as a guinea pig in an experiment that didn’t work according to the recent juvenile crime statistics?

Robert: If I dwell on it, it makes me feel angry, bitter, and aggressive. I can’t believe that they’d just throw me away like that. I think I could’ve learned my lessons in TYC for a few years rather than spend the rest of my life in prison.

Lee: Honestly, I take responsibility for my actions. Even for the things that I did as a child. But, I still feel like society let me down, because I wasn’t mature enough, I wasn’t an adult. At that time in my life, I didn’t realize how much of a dumbass I was being. There was room for improvement, as evidenced by who I am today, but they didn’t give me a chance to get clean and grow up. I was out of control.

Q. When you were certified, do you think you were mature enough to make decisions that would effect the rest of your life?

Lee: No, I was only 16. Looking back I realize now that I was a child and my judgement was clouded due to the lifestyle I was living, which included drugs, alcohol, partying, and sex. That’s all I seemed to care about back then. Mature…? Of course not! I was just a kid man.

Robert: Being that we grew up in the same neighborhood, I was also sucked into that lifestyle. It was all about getting high and chasing girls back then. It didn’t dawn on me that I’d have to spend the rest of my life in prison until I was about 17 or so. So, no, I don’t think I was very mature at age 16. I suffered from a severe inability to delay gratification.

Q. What’s the difference between being in a juvenile facility versus and adult penitentiary?

Robert: There are a multitude of differences. First of all, being sent to an adult prison means you’ve been convicted of a felony and that’s on your permanent record. If you were ever to get out it would be tough to get a job and most people would shun you. As far as living conditions go, you are housed with grown men who have been locked up for decades, some of which won’t ever get out, and a lot of these guys try to prey on younger guys, especially white dudes. In juvenile, it’s all about fighting and seeing who’s toughest, whereas in prison it’s about survival and every little confrontation could be fatal.

Lee: Yeah, I hear you on that. The juvenile system is a controlled environment, whereas a TDCJ unit is run by the inmates (prison “families” or gangs). When you send a kid into an environment run by life-long criminals who are mainly concerned with perpetuating the drug business, prison rape, and prostitution, then you aren’t putting the kid into a situation conductive to rehabilitation, but rather one that breeds hate and violence. It teaches a kid how to be a criminal. This shows that the state is more concerned with punishment rather than rehabilitation for the youth of the country.

Robert: It’s all about money as far as I see it. they do things to cater the constituents of crime ridden counties without thinking them through completely. people who live in these counties are only worried about stopping the crime, and the politicians voting for them vote however they think will help them in the polls. In other words, the root of the problem, juvenile delinquents, isn’t really tended to. So as long as these kids are locked up, the citizens and politicians are happy. But in essence the kids are basically ruined. We’re tossed out like yesterday’s garbage.

Lee: I invite you (the reader) to look at the statistics and you will see that the majority of young men in prison are either doing Life or an aggravated sentence, which means that they’ll be doing most of their time. Texas is tough like that. It’s a waste of life.

Q. Did your family/friends support you (emotionally,spiritually,financially, etc.) after you were certified?

Lee: Friends, what friends? There aren’t any friends in the dope game. The only friend that stayed with me after I was certified was a female who visited me at the Juvenile Detention Center, someone I met after I got locked up. She was a counselor or something. She was from my neighborhood too, so that was cool. As far as my family, I was never too close to my family when I was free. I love them and they love me, but I couldn’t expect them to stop their lives for me. Over the years my mom has been my number one supporter; even though she’s had a rough life herself, she’s always tried to be there for me. I was raised and ruled by prison politics.

Robert: Obviously my dad and brother couldn’t be very supportive because they were being charged with the same crime and in jail. My mom hung around for a year or so, then sorta blinked out of existence for a few years. Everyone else pretty much bailed on me right after I was arrested. Most of the last 12 years I’ve had to do my time alone. After I came to death row, I was fortunate to meet a few people who showed compassion and love to me like I’d never experienced in my life. These people, a couple of which are still with me, have been more like family to me than my own. But early on it was difficult living in this place without any support from the outside.

Q. Do you think there were other options besides adult certification that would have gotten you back on track in life?

Lee: They could have sent me to TYC to be rehabilitated and to learn more about life. At the age of 18 they could have evaluated me to determine if i should be placed int eh adult system, released under stipulations, or even offered a chance in the military because people change daily, we never stay the same. Are you the same person you were five years ago? Of course not. I’m not the same person I was at 16 either. In fact, tomorrow I’ll be a little different than what I am today. Aging is a growing process, mentally and physically.

Robert: No doubt we are ever- evolving and growing from our experiences. The leap from adolescence to adulthood is a monumental one. We change so much in that period. It’s why car insurance is so high until you’re around 25yrs old, when we typically really mature. This is why I don’t think most people should have to pay for the rest of their lives for something they did as an idiot kid. You’ve got to give kids a chance to grow out of their behavior. So yeah, there were many options that the courts could have utilized to handle me rather than send me to prison forever. I’ve never really understood their logic.

Lee: Isn’t it funny that they won’t allow you to buy cigarettes, alcohol, and you have a curfew until you’re 17-21 years of age, yet they can certify you and send you to prison for the rest of your life at ages 14-16?! What’s wrong with our system?!