Legal Commentary

The High Cost of the Death Penalty

By Jeralyn

The New York Times has an editorial today on the economic toll of the death penalty. Some stats it obtained from the Death Penalty Information Center:

According to the organization, keeping inmates on death row in Florida costs taxpayers $51 million a year more than holding them for life without parole. North Carolina has put 43 people to death since 1976 at $2.16 million per execution. The eventual cost to taxpayers in Maryland for pursuing capital cases between 1978 and 1999 is estimated to be $186 million for five executions.

Perhaps the most extreme example is California, whose death row costs taxpayers $114 million a year beyond the cost of imprisoning convicts for life.

As to how the money could be better used: [More...]

Money spent on death rows could be spent on police officers, courts, public defenders, legal service agencies and prison cells.

Instead of more jail cells, how about spending the money on mental health and drug treatment and vocational and life-skills training for inmates, which are likely to reduce recidivism, save us money in the long run and make society a safer place?

Other ways to save money: Impose fewer life sentences and charge fewer juveniles as adults.

The money saved by abolishing the death penalty could also be used for non-crime purposes - like providing health care and better education. In times like these when there isn't enough money to go around, wasting precious dollars and scant criminal justice resources on the death penalty, a punishment that is discriminatorily applied, fraught with potential for killing an innocent person and does not serve to deter others, makes no sense.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 28, 2009 (boomark / email).