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| Susan M. Recinella, Clinical Psychologist for mentally ill adults, and
Catholic Lay Minister to Families of the Executed |
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Upcoming Events:
Florida Community College of Jacksonville FL
Downtown Jacksonville Campus
Death Penalty Analysis Class (Not open to the public).
Wednesday April 8, 2009 - 11:00 a.m. to 12:50pm
Presentation: Biblical Teaching and the Realities of the American
Death Penalty
Guest Speaker: DALE S. RECINELLA
Catholic Lay Chaplain for Florida Death Row and Solitary Confinement
For information, contact: Professor John Elac
ph. 407-321-9386 or 386-503-1517
St Peter’s in the Glen Anglican Church, Glen St Mary, Florida
The Biblical Truth about America’s Death Penalty and the Death Penalty Up Close
(open to the public).
Saturday April 25, 2009 - 9:00 a.m. to Noon followed by free lunch
Guest Speakers:
DALE S. RECINELLA - Catholic Lay Chaplain for Florida Death Row and Solitary Confinement
DR. SUSAN M. RECINELLA – Catholic Lay Minister to Families of the Executed and Families of Murder Victims
For information, contact: Ms. Sue Leger Krall
cell 613-2542 Hm 259-6568
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Even When It Is Cheaper to Do the Right Thing –
It Is Still the Right Thing to Do.
By: Dale S. Recinella
Rare is the opportunity on this mortal coil to save money by doing the right thing.
Yet, that is exactly the case with respect to the death penalty.
I would prefer that the death penalty in the U.S. be abandoned because killing people, even people who have done great harm, makes
us all killers and diminishes all of us.
I would prefer that the death penalty in the U.S. be abandoned because rationality and basic American common sense conclude that we
cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing people ourselves.
I would prefer that the death penalty in the U.S. be abandoned because every decent American knows that our flawed criminal justice
system probably has and definitely will execute innocent people—blood none of us want on our conscience, especially those of us who
claim a biblical faith and tremble before the command of Exodus 23:7: “Thou shalt not execute an innocent person.”
I would prefer that the death penalty in the U.S. be abandoned because it is a barbaric practice that every other western democracy in
the world has relegated to their past.
I would prefer that the death penalty in the U.S. be abandoned because it is morally bankrupt, gives nothing of value to the family
of the murder victim, heals no one, and diminishes and destroys everyone it touches.
I would prefer that the death penalty in the U.S. be abandoned because the torturous moral, political, legislative and judicial
contortions needed to keep it are corrupting and perverting the basic elements of the social and legal compact which make American
society the beacon of light that it was meant to be.
But we do not live in a perfect world. And the new wave of impetus for abandonment of the U.S. death penalty is the economic crisis,
a wave so strong that it has washed out the deceptive bulwarks that protect one of America’s best kept secrets: the death penalty costs
more than life in prison without parole.
The specialists in the death penalty industry have always known that. (See Ezine article archives: “You Can Fool All of the
People Some of the Time” April 11, 2007) But now the leaders and elected representatives who do not make their wealth or build their
political careers based on the machinery of death are finding out the secret.
Maryland learned that they spent $37 million per execution over the past 28 years.
California spends $138 million per year on the necessary infrastructure for the death penalty but has executed less than one person every two years.
New Jersey spent $4.2 million per death sentence and had executed no one since 1963. Their legislature and governor dumped it.
In Texas it costs at least three times as much to execute someone as it does to keep them in prison at the highest level of security
for the rest of their natural life.
The state of Florida would realize an immediate savings of over $50 million per year if it abandoned the death penalty and moved
to the maximum penalty of life in prison without possibility of parole.
So now that states are facing huge budget deficits and scrapping essential programs hand-over-fist, those who have been elected
without pandering to bloodlust are asking why taxpayers’ money is being squandered on an archaic practice that gives nothing to
anyone except the industry that perpetuates it.
At least farm subsidies result in food, and sugar subsidies make things sweet. Even that is easier to defend than the taxpayers
footing the bill for over $1.6 billion dollars per year in excess criminal justice system costs in order to support a few thousand
lawyers and a handful of politicians!
Alas, this may be the way the U.S. death penalty is abandoned—merely to save billions of dollars.
But when all is said and done, even in those incredibly rare situations where it is cheaper to do the right thing, it is still the right thing to do.
© 2009 Dale S. Recinella
Used with permission. All rights reserved
No further reproduction or republication without prior written permission.
www.iwasinprison.org
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I Was In Prison
News & Updates
This ezine is targeted for people involved in prison ministry or in stopping the death penalty, we think you will find helpful information for people who are undecided about capital punishment, for those who have never experienced the inside of a jail or prison, and for those who feel called to participate through prayer and adoration.
Your name and information will never be used or shared with anyone. We promise!
Dale S. Recinella, Catholic Lay Chaplain, Florida Death Row and Solitary Confinement
Susan M. Recinella, Clinical Psychologist for mentally ill adults, and
Catholic Lay Minister to Families of the Executed |
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