waterworld
JV: The data does not really support the claim that many convicted murderers go on to kill again if given a second chance. While I don’t know what you mean by “many” in this context, what the data shows is that the recidivism rate among people convicted of murder and later released is lower than that for any other category of crime.
Also, I think it’s important not to conflate the different degrees of murder in a discussion of capital punishment and alternative sentences. There is no state that authorizes capital punishment for every level of murder; statutes distinguish between premeditated, intentional killings and those that are not premeditated or are not intentional. Capital punishment is generally reserved only for those murders that are not only premeditated and intentional, but that also have one or more aggravating factors, such as murder to cover up some other crime, or multiple murders, or murder combined with a sex crime. And even in the case of aggravated, premeditated, intentional killing, the jury can choose to not impose the death penalty. In this state, the automatic sentence for these most serious homicides is life without parole, unless the jury unanimously agrees to impose death. All the other murders — meaning the vast majority of them — are punished with sentences that are less than the remainder of the offender’s life.
Considering that people convicted of murder, along with virtually every other kind of crime, are very likely to be released at some point in their lives, it is at least worth discussing whether it is in our best interests to ensure that offenders have access to some means of improving or rehabilitating themselves. The single greatest predictor of recidivism across all categories of crime other than sex offenses is the availability of work. A person who is released after serving a sentence for a violent crime, a drug crime, a financial crime, or a property crime is less likely to reoffend if he or she can get a job. So I don’t begrudge prisoners who are trying to earn their high school equivalents or degrees. It adds very little to the expense of incarceration to provide education and work training, it reduces the numbers of infractions committed in prison, and the cost-savings to society in terms of future harm avoided is enormous. When we get caught up in imagining how luxurious prison must be if inmates are able to learn a trade or get some education, we miss the boat entirely: our own interests in being safe in the future, affordably so, are served by these programs. (Besides, no one who has spent time in prison will say it compares favorably to your “college days.” That’s just nuts.)
Also, FWIW, inmates on death row or in maximum security settings are not eligible for conjugal visits in this state. Actually, it is not easy to qualify for what the Department of Corrections calls “extended family visits.” While we tend to think of these solely as visits for the purpose of married prisoners hooking up with their spouses, in reality, as often as not, the visits are used by inmates who are parents to spend private time with their children. And sexually explicit materials are prohibited in all state prisons, to the best of my knowledge. If an offender receives explicit pornography in the mail, it does not get delivered to him.