Perché abolire la pena di morte

Camera a gas a San Quentin, California

Nella progressista California, dove il 68% della popolazione è favorevole alla pena di morte, in novembre si voterà un referendum per abolirla: California Proposition 34, the End the Death Penalty Initiative.
Mentre gli europei si scandalizzano per questa barbara usanza, adducendo profonde argomentazioni filosofiche/religiose/giuridiche/morali/storiche/umanitarie per la sua abolizione, i californiani hanno trovato l'unico motivo che forse potrebbe funzionare: la pena di morte costa troppo.
Date un'occhiata al testo della Proposition 34: tra gli argomenti degli abolizionisti troviamo:
1) Repealing the death penalty will "save the state millions of dollars through layoffs of prosecutors and defense attorneys who handle death penalty cases, as well as savings from not having to maintain the nation's largest death row at San Quentin prison."2) The death penalty is intrinsically wrong. (Questo sarebbe l'argomento filosofico/morale. Molto robusto e ben sviluppato, eh?)3) "Our system is broken, expensive and it always will carry the grave risk of a mistake."4) “SAFE California will provide public protection by keeping those truly guilty of death penalty crimes locked up for life, and in the meantime saving us millions of dollars that will be invested in crime-fighting measures leading to the apprehension of serious criminals.” -- John Van de Kamp, former Attorney General of California and former Los Angeles County District Attorney.5) “[The death penalty] does not make our streets safer and it takes away resources from things that prevent violence, like keeping our kids in school and putting cops on the street. It also denies justice for thousands of grieving mothers who, like me, will never see their children’s murderer be held accountable for their crimes.” –Lorraine Taylor, Murder Victim Family6) “We know that innocent people have been convicted of murder in California – three were released in 2011 after serving a total of 57 years – and that innocent people have been executed in other states. Nationwide, 140 inmates from death rows have been exonerated of the crimes for which they were wrongly convicted. In light of possible innocence, using the death penalty puts all Californians at risk of perpetrating the ultimate injustice of executing an innocent person[.]” – Bishop Cirilo Flores (ecco, almeno il vescovo parla del rischio di ammazzare qualche innocente).7) “Life without parole protects public safety better than a death sentence. It's a lot cheaper, it keeps dangerous men and women locked up forever, and mistakes can be fixed.” -- Don Heller, SAFE California supporter and author of the 1978 initiative that reinstated the death penalty. 8) A 2011 study by former prosecutor and federal judge Arthur Alarcón indicates that California has spent approximately $4 billion to execute 13 people since the death penalty was reinstated. The Alarcón report also indicates that implementing the death penalty in California costs $184 million dollars per year more than implementing sentences of life without the possibility of parole.