Our attention was recently called to an editorial in the Hutchinson News that was printed in May, 2009. Titled “A Capital Idea,” the editorial said that Colorado has the right idea, one that Kansas should consider emulating, in its proposal to end the death penalty.” In the last year several states considered abolishing the death penalty to save money in their budgets. In Colorado, the state planned to use the savings to investigate about 1,400 unsolved homicides.
Says the News, “[t]ake the emotion out of the argument, and it makes sense to use the state’s money to beef up law enforcement to pursue men and women actively engaging in crime. Already-convicted murderers are at least incarcerated and no longer a threat to public safety.”
The newspaper reports that abandoning the death penalty would save an estimated $1 million a year in Colorado. “Think of what $1 million could do for unsolved case work in Kansas. It could give families closure; it could lock up dangerous criminals; it could even spare a victim.”