No...
I don't support the death penalty. I should be abolished. It costs this country billions of dollars and make our streets less safe.
The death penalty does not cost that much money---the appeals do. I wonder how much it costs to jail and put to death a convicted person in a state like Texas vs Mass.?
I don't support the death penalty myself, but I do not think the $$$$ argument has ever been a valid one.
Really??? On THIS planet?
California
Report of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice
“The additional cost of confining an inmate to death row, as compared to the maximum security prisons where those sentenced to life without possibility of parole ordinarily serve their sentences, is $90,000 per year per inmate. With California’s current death row population of 670, that accounts for $63.3 million annually.”
Using conservative rough projections, the Commission estimates the
annual costs of the present (death penalty) system to be $137 million per year.
The cost of the present system with reforms recommended by the Commission to ensure a fair process would be
$232.7 million per year.
The cost of a system in which the number of death-eligible crimes was significantly narrowed would be
$130 million per year.
The cost of a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty would be $11.5 million per year.
Maryland
New Study Reveals Maryland Pays
$37 Million for One Execution
Federal Costs
The average cost of defending a trial in a federal death case is $620,932, about
8 times that of a federal murder case in which the death penalty is not sought.
Washington
Report to Washington State Bar Association regarding cost
At the trial level, death penalty cases are estimated to generate roughly
$470,000 in additional costs to the prosecution and defense over the cost of trying the same case as an aggravated murder without the death penalty and costs of $47,000 to $70,000 for court personnel. On direct appeal, the cost of appellate defense averages $100,000 more in death penalty cases, than in non-death penalty murder cases. Personal restraint petitions filed in death penalty cases on average cost an additional $137,000 in public defense costs.
New Jersey
Death Penalty has
Cost New Jersey Taxpayers $253 Million
Tennessee
Study Finds Death penalty Costly, Ineffective
A new report released by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury recommended changes to the state's costly death penalty and called into question its effectiveness in preventing crime.
Death penalty trials cost an average of
48% more than the average cost of trials in which prosecutors seek life imprisonment.
Tennessee District Attorneys General are not consistent in their pursuit of the death penalty.
Surveys and interviews of district attorneys indicate that
some prosecutors "use the death penalty as a 'bargaining chip' to secure plea bargains for lesser sentences."
Previous research provides no clear indication whether the death penalty acts as a method of crime prevention.
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reversed 29 percent of capital cases on direct appeal.
Although any traumatic trial may cause stress and pain for jurors, the victims' family, and the defendant's family, the pressure may be at its peak during death penalty trials. (July 2004)
Kansas
Study Concludes Death Penalty is Costly Policy
In its review of death penalty expenses, the State of Kansas concluded that
capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-death penalty cases.
The
investigation costs for death-sentence cases were about 3 times greater than for non-death cases.
The trial costs for death cases were about 16 times greater than for non-death cases ($508,000 for death case; $32,000 for non-death case).
The
appeal costs for death cases were 21 times greater.
The costs of carrying out (i.e. incarceration and/or execution) a death sentence were about half the costs of carrying out a non-death sentence in a comparable case.
Trials involving a death sentence averaged 34 days, including jury selection; non-death trials averaged about 9 days.
USA
Death Penalty Trials Very Costly Relative to County Budgets
Capital cases burden county budgets with large unexpected costs, according to a report released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, "The Budgetary Repercussions of Capital Convictions," by Katherine Baicker.
Counties manage these high costs by decreasing funding for highways and police and by increasing taxes. The report estimates that between 1982-1997 the extra cost of capital trials was $1.6 billion.
Indiana
Total cost of Indiana's death penalty is
38% greater than the total cost of life without parole sentences
North Carolina
Death Penalty Costs North Carolina Nearly $11 Million a Year
A recent study published by a Duke University economist revealed North Carolina could save $11 million annually if it dropped the death penalty.
The two-year costs were summed up as follows:
Extra defense costs for capital cases in trial phase $13,180,385
Extra payments to jurors $224,640
Capital post-conviction costs $7,473,556
Resentencing hearings $594,216
Prison system $169,617
Total $21,642,414
North Carolina Spends More per Execution than on a Non-death Penalty Murder Case
The most comprehensive death penalty study in the country found that t
he death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million more per execution than the a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life imprisonment (. On a national basis, these figures translate to an extra cost of over $1 billion spent since 1976 on the death penalty. ("The Costs of Processing Murder Cases in North Carolina" Duke University, May 1993)
Florida
Florida Spends Millions Extra per Year on Death Penalty
Florida would save $51 million each year by punishing all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole
Florida Spent Average of
$3.2 Million per Execution from 1973 to 1988
During that time period, Florida spent an estimated $57 million on the death penalty to achieve 18 executions. ("Bottom Line: Life in Prison One-Sixth as Expensive," Miami Herald, July 10, 1988)
Texas
Texas death penalty cases cost more than non-capital cases
That is about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. ("Executions Cost Texas Millions," Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1992)
Costs of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center
