Isn't life without parole a worse punishment?

pgreenfi-
"I think that California shouldn't have executed him as locking him up for the rest of his life would have been a far worse punishment.

1 in 8 prisoners on death row in America give up on appeals and want to die as they would rather die than spend the rest of their natural lives in jail."

-I highly disagree with you here pgreenfi. Psychologically, they say on average, people's highest fear is that of death, and especially a planned death. Personally, had I been convicted of murder, I would much rather have life in prison without parole, no questions asked. With LIPWP, you get three square meals a day, recreation, social gatherings, television (yes you do get tv, not in your cell however), a warm bed, and free medical care for the rest of your life. So, should someone who just killed a person, ended someone's right to live to be given all of that. Immagine watching a murder, or a rape than murder, and honestly tell me that you would want the person responsible for that to live with all of those luxuries. In fact, alot of people would rather live in jail then their current poverty-stricken life because they get food, medicare, beds, showers, etc.

Plus, the whole thing about without parole, only lasts 6 years on average, as lawyers today can usually find a technicality in the law to get parole. Sounds alot like the death penalty and clemency eh? And if people were so afraid of living the rest of their lives in jail, then why do they beg for their lives in clemency hearings and appeals? Look at Tookie for instance, I bet he was scared crapless knowing that he was spending his last few days on earth, and that all of his hopes of clemency were taken away, and the feeling he had knowing he had to finnally fess up to what he had commited. Had Tookie not done this, he wouldnt have had to die.

I highly disagree with Life in prison without parole because it is not a deterrant (or as close as a deterrant as the death penalty), and actually rewards some people for commiting murder. Murderers end the life of some innocent person who had done nothing wrong, so why should we let murderers live the rest of their lives? The instant you give a person life in prison without parole, is the instant that you wrongly tip the scales of justice. The INNOCENT person who is now rotting in a grave is in a much worse position than the GUILTY murderer who wrongfully ended their life, who spends the rest of their life in a prison with all the beforementioned luxuries. Where's the justice in that?

fiddyfan-And yeah I hate the tax thing too, but it is actually cheaper paying for life imprisonment then paying for the death penalty, which costs A LOT of money."

Actually, that stat is skewed. For death row per year, it is roughly 35,000 a year for security and room with food, while life in prison its somewhere around 20,000 (thus, once the inmate is executed, they no longer pay that 35 g's and for the rest of the life in prison inmates life, you pay 20 g's a year for the rest of his/her life).Yes there are appeals in death penalty cases (most of which are denied by the courts to even hear), but there are just as many appeals for life in prison without parole inmates becuase they use appeals to get parole, and must meet in front of parole boards yearly to try to get it.

Awestruck?