# A crazy, mad science idea : proving if the death penalty is effective **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2017, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-crazy-mad-science-idea-proving-if-the-death-penalty-is-effective/783482 "2017-04-01T05:27:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 36
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-crazy-mad-science-idea-proving-if-the-death-penalty-is-effective/783482/36 "2017-04-01T21:42:30Z")
As for the time Charles Manson has been in jail on life imprisonment, how about the time these fellows have spent on death row: > [@Dylann Roof found guilty - rot in hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylann-roof-found-guilty-rot-in-hell/774814/124): > > Which is comparable to the amount of time some condemned prisoners have spent on death row: > > • the longest serving prisoner on death row in the US, Gary Alford, spent almost 40 years on death row between his conviction in 1974 and his death from natural causes in 2013 at age 66; > > • Viva Leroy Nash was 83 when he died of natural causes in 2010, the oldest prisoner on death row in the US, having been sentenced to death in 1983, 27 years earlier; > > • Brandon Jones was likely the prisoner who served the longest time between sentence and actual execution, namely 36 years on death row from sentence in 1979 and execution in 2016, at age 73. > > Source: [Death Penalty Information Centre: Time on Death Row](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/time-death-row) 2 decades, 3 decades, 4 decades on death row - how is the death penalty cheaper compared to keeping Charlie locked up for life? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-crazy-mad-science-idea-proving-if-the-death-penalty-is-effective/783482)._