I read in the paper this evening that a young man plead guilty to first degree murder. 2 years ago, he killed his ex-girlfriend. As murders go, it was pretty typical, he stabbed her to death. But he was skilled as a medic, so he first cut her carotid artery and then finished the job by stabbing most of her vital organs like lungs, heart, liver, etc.
Why did he plead guilty? Well, that is interesting. By pleading guilty and confessing to the crime, he essentially ensures himself the minimum sentence.
25 years in prison.
I don't know if he can get time off for good behavior, but let's consider for a moment that he can't - that he has to serve the full 25 years. (I doubt it but lets go with that for now) He is currently 20 years old. He'll be 45 when he gets out of prison. Just a couple of years younger than me.
During that time, he'll have his "room and board" paid for by me. At great cost.
Now, let's suppose that instead of repealing our death penalty, we kept it. Made it better. We could sentence any convicted first degree murder to it. And we would carry out those sentences with a minimum number of appeal attempts.
Would our murder above have pleaded guilty for a life in prison without possibility of parole sentence? I don't know... there is no way to know. But with no effective Death Penalty in Connecticut, the next highest thing becomes what you bargain against. So life without parole becomes the worst punishment, and our murderer will be due in your neighborhood sometime in 2037.
But I'm sure he'll be rehabilitated by then.
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