One of the major problems many have with capital punishment is the cost. Death penalty trials are very complicated with many important parts, and as a result the death penalty is extremely expensive. Studies have shown that a “death-penalty trial costs $1 million more than one in which prosecutors seek life without parole (Barnes 1 of 2).” Duke University studied North Carolina’s death penalty and found that the state spent more, $2.1 million dollars more, on a death penalty case than a case seeking a life sentence (Barnes 1 of 2). Between 1995 and 2004, New York spent over $170 million dollars without executing a single prisoner (Costs 3 of 5). Death row prisoners are deemed dangerous to society and other prisoners, and so they are classified as maximum custody.
Ernest van den Haag, a Professor of Jurisprudence at Fordham University who has studied the question of deterrence closely, wrote: "Even though statistical demonstrations are not conclusive, and perhaps cannot be, capital punishment is likely to deter mo... ... middle of paper ... ...round 3.2 million per execution! This includes all the trials and everything else. This objection ties into the first one because you have to think about the family. They are getting put through this torture and mourning over and over again with every trial that takes place so your not just costing tax payers more but your also making the mourning process of the criminals family longer which can cause psychological problems. With capital punishment your hurting everyone not just the criminal and the family because they are the only ones paying for all the trials and everything the taxpayers are.
Retrieved from http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-department-of-homeland-security-dhs-routinely-spes-upon-and-disrupts-occupy-protests/5335715 Mould, John. (2010) ATA Magazine, 91(1), 12-16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/761339749?accountid=40611 Parker, Ian. 6 February 2012. The Story of Suicide.
The cost of death penalty are different according to the states, California being the most expensive state. According to the fact sheet organized by Death Penalty Information Center, the cost of the death penalty in California has totaled over four billion dollars since 1978 and if the Governor commuted the sentences of those remaining on death row to life parole, it would result in an immediate savings of 170 million dollars per year, with the savings of 5 billion dollars over the next 20 years (“Costs of Death Penalty”, 2010). Besides that, the provision death penalty is discriminated against the poor because they cannot afford effective, high powered lawyers. Hundreds of people are put to death across the USA every year, the evidence suggests that the poorest are paying the highest price. A study found that the average cost of defending a
The State of Texas has been allowing convicted criminals to serve less than fifty percent of their sentence because the state simply can’t afford to keep them behind bars any longer. These same states are sinking millions of dollars into the death penalty every year. It has been shown in many cases that the cost of a death penalty case is much greater than that of a life without parole case. One such case comes out of a study that was done in Colorado that concluded that capital proceedings on average require one hundred and twenty three more days than a life without parole case. (Marceau, 2013) This case also noted that it takes about two days to select a jury for a life without parole case while it takes about 30 days to select a jury for a capital case.
The death penalty is used only in 38 states (www.deathpenalty.org). The state of California is home to the nation’s most clogged death row, housing 641 men and women pending lethal injection. Having to house all these criminals is costing tax payers millions of dollars. Capital punishment in California, as in every other state, is more expensive than a life imprisonment sentence without the opportunity of parole. These costs are not the result of careless appeals but instead the result of constitutionally mandated safeguards (www.deathpenalty.org).
Lauri Friedman quotes, “Executions simply inject more violence into an already hostile American society.” The cost of the Death Penalty is highly expensive. A case to put someone in jail costs on average two million three hundred thousand dollars on average while to put an inmate in jail for forty years cost on average seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars (Friedman 11). In Texas the death penalty cost three times more money than putting an inmate in the highest security level in a jail for forty years (4). It also takes time for a death penalty case to be processed and a convict to be sentenced to the death penalty. Then it takes more time for the state to act and to administer the death penalty to people on death row.
Convection someone to capital punishment would cost more than just sending them to prison “One Ohio trial judge estimates a death penalty trial will cost 3-4 times as much as life-without-parole trail.” Study also shows that death penalty costs average as much as $10 million more per year per state than life sentence costs. Some of the contributing factors about the true costs of using the death penalty are that capital cases are more complicated and require more experts than normal cases, that both sides also spend more on investigative costs of a capital case. Using capital punishment in states would also increase the wrongly accused of being killed for something that never happened. In the state of Texas, Anthony Graves was convicted in 1994 of assisting Robert Carter in multiple murders in 1992. Having no physical evidence linking Graves to the crimes, and his conviction relied on Carter’s testimony that Graves was his accomplice, A claim that was later recanted.
A good fourteen percent of the illegal inmates housed in prisons are convicted on dangerous charges such as manslaughter, murder, and drug offenses. In Los Angeles, California 95% of outstanding homicide warrants, and two thirds of felony warrants are issued towards illegal immigrants! The problems with illegal immigration are compounded financially. Within the health care system alone, illegals cost our countries taxpayers $500 million dollars a year. Altogether it is estimated that illegal immigrants costs our nation a billion dollars every year!
A new study released by the Urban Institute on March 6, 2008 said that the lifetime expenses of prosecuted cases since 1978 will cost Maryland taxpayers $186 million or more . The average cost of defending a trial in a federal death case is $620,932, close to 8 times that... ... middle of paper ... ...ecution Hanging: They have been done in many places Lethal Injection: This is the most common way people are executed now days. All of the types of executions above have been used in the past only a couple of them is used now days. So should the Death Penalty be banned as a form of punishment? Yes and No is the answer here are some reasons.