Re: High Rise Living

David Dyer-Bennet <dd-b@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
David Dyer-Bennet <dd-b@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
People have been released from life sentences when they were
proven innocent, so there is SOME looking into it.

That's like saying that people have won millions in the lottery.
Yes, but it's not something anyone should ever plan on. If you're
ever sentenced to life without parole, the chances that you won't
die in prison are infinitesimal, whether you're guilty or not.
You'd probably do better to work on an escape plan than to work
on appeals.

Seemed like I was dealing with an absolute claim; even one
counter-example suffices for that.

The question is whether it's a good reason to prefer life without
parole to a death sentence. Assuming you're innocent and that you
don't find any value in time spent in prison, I think you'd be better
off with a death sentence, since that increases the odds that your
case really will be looked at. With a death sentence you might have
an 80% of being executed, a 15% chance of dying in prison before your
execution, and a 5% chance of being exonerated and freed. With a life
sentence you might have a 99.7% chance of dying in prison, a 0.1%
chance of being exonerated and freed, a 0.1% chance of being pardoned
(but not exonerated) and freed decades from now, and a 0.1% chance of
escaping and remaining free.

The question is also whether it's a good reason to oppose the death
penalty without also opposing life sentences. I don't think it is.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
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