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Costs
Capital punishment is a far more expensive system than one whose maximum
penalty is life in prison.
- A New York study estimated the cost of an execution at three times that of
life imprisonment.
- In Florida, each execution costs the state $3.2 million, compared to $600,000
for life imprisonment.
- Studies in California, Kansas, Maryland, and North Carolina all have concluded
that capital punishment is far more expensive than keeping someone in prison for
life.
The greatest costs of the death penalty are incurred prior to and during trial,
not in post-conviction proceedings. Even if all post-conviction proceedings were
abolished, the death penalty system would still be more expensive than alternative
sentences.
- Under a death penalty system, trials have two separate phases (conviction
and sentencing); they are typically preceded by special motions and extra jury
selection questioning.
- More investigative costs are generally incurred in capital cases, particularly
by the prosecution.
- When death penalty trials result in a verdict less than death or are reversed,
the taxpayer first incurs all the extra costs of capital pretrial and trial proceedings
and must then also pay either for the cost of incarcerating the prisoner for life
or the costs of a retrial (which often leads to a life sentence).
The death penalty diverts resources from genuine crime control measures. Spending
money on the death penalty system means:
- Taking it away from existing components of the criminal justice system, such
as prosecutions of drug crimes, domestic violence, and child abuse.
- Reducing the resources states put into crime prevention, education and rehabilitation,
investigative resources, and drug treatment programs.
"Elimination of the death penalty would result in a net savings to the
state of at least several tens of millions of dollars annually, and a net savings
to local governments in the millions to tens of millions of dollars on a statewide
basis."
--Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the California Legislature, Sept. 9, 1999
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Two road signs near
the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, an execution site.
(© Scott Langley) |
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