The
execution Wednesday of Samuel Lopez once again showed that the death penalty is a wasteful and expensive exercise. The killing of Lopez accomplished nothing more than picking at the scabs of some very old wounds, while disingenuously dispensing empty promises of "closure."
As one member of Estefana Holmes' family stated after the execution, "there are no winners" in this situation, rather only a whole host of losers.
Of course, the biggest loser was Estefana Holmes, who was brutally murdered. Obviously, people that commit heinous crimes should be punished severely. Modern correctional facilities are entirely capable of safely containing individuals such as Lopez, at a fraction of the cost of the wasteful death-penalty system.
Lopez, by all reports, began his life in appalling circumstances. (Circumstances no judge ever heard about because of technical barriers.) Subjected to horrendous trauma as a child, he turned to the relief of paint fumes, other drugs and alcohol, which in the end, according to the testimony of a physician at the hearing, caused neurological damage and dysfunction in his brain. That is not an excuse for his having committed a brutal murder; however, it does provide perspective.
Millions of our tax dollars are wasted each year on this pitiful exercise, tax dollars that could be better used in many ways.
Numerous rapes and homicides go unsolved and the money wasted on death-penalty cases should instead go toward supporting law-enforcement efforts to catch these killers and rapists who now walk free on our streets. This would bring real justice to more victims and make our families safer.
Had Lopez been sentenced to live out the rest of his life within the secure walls of an Arizona Department of Corrections prison, the family of the victim could have moved toward finality decades ago.
Source: OpEd by Bob Basque, The Arizona Republic, July 2, 2012. Bob Basque is acting executive director of Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona.
.jpg)
