If found guilty of a murder should the person in custody be sentenced to death? Here is why the death penalty is acceptable, the cost of life in prison vs. the cost of death, the morality, also closure for the victim’s family. In many cases the person in question is sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole. Do you know how much that costs you? The current annual cost for keeping an inmate in a state prison is $47,102, times the thousands of inmates also in prison for life is roughly around 59million a year. For a person to be put on to death row is around $7.2 million for three years. For a year of life in prison compared to three years of death row is a huge difference. Which means it could cut down the amount
It is expensive and varies in different states. It cost Florida $51 million a year above what it would cost to punish all first degree murderers with life in prison without parole, and a death penalty case in Texas would cost an average of $2.3 million – three times as much of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest level for 40 years! (Facts). Instead of spending money for individual criminals, the government can save that money and spend it on the prison facility to create more space. The money can also be used towards the murdered victim’s families. Most family members who have “lost [loved] ones to murder” sense that the death penalty does not help them (Death Penalty). The reason why death penalty cases cost more than typical cases is because all of the judges, lawyers, and other personnel would spend more hours into preparing, trying, and reviewing the issues, given that a life is at stake. Judge Gregory Frost estimated that he and his staff spends “40 to 60 hours per month on some aspect” of the death penalty cases, and that the hearings could last from “a few hours to multiple days” (Death-penalty). Instead of spending an excessive amount of money on the death penalty, the money could be devoted to therapies, counseling sessions, or places that could be helpful for the murdered victim’s families. The government can also spend that money for the community. They can help by repairing highways, street lights, and annihilated
-Cost, like previously mentioned above it cost allot, not just financially but physically and emotionally for all those involved. The trials, the appeals and don’t forget the heightened security on death row, commuting all death sentences to life in prison would save hundred of millions of dollars per year Texas.
Also, the cost of the death penalty is really high, the cost of keeping someone in jail for life which will cost 600,000 per prisoner and just for one person to be put to death is would cost 2.3 million per prisoner. That is not a logical reason to kill someone then to keep them alive because the cost is three time less to keep a person alive in jail for life then to kill
Although keeping someone in a prison may cost a lot, sentencing someone to death is not cheap as well. It has actually been proven that the death penalty is more expensive than a prison sentence. This is because the trails for death penalties are long, and very complicated. In order to go through with the death penalty you need to have more experts, double the amount of attorneys and there will be a trial for guilt and a separate one for punishment. The criminal on death row is also held in a high security prison (Top Ten Pros and Cons). Though the death penalty may sound simple, it is much more complicated currently then it was multiple years
The death penalty is truly a waste of time and money. When people go after a death penalty sentence, it usually ends up costing more than twice more than a regular trial. When an inmate gets sentenced the death penalty, they go to death rowe. Death rowe is a separate part of the prison. It is separate from the rest of the general population. This is to keep the rest of the prisoners safe. On average, housing an inmate on death row costs 90,000$ more than a normal inmate. This is because they have to provide extra security for the inmate. (Interview) When someone is being charged with the death penalty, they can be on death row for an average of of 20 years. This is because they get a certain amount of appeals. An appeal is when the judge and
Cost of life sentences vary from state to state and aside from important justice considerations, the actual financial cost of JLWOP Juvenile Life without Parole sentences is significant. A life sentence when given to a juvenile is designed to last longer than a life sentence issued to an older defendant. However when housing juveniles for life sentences, it requires decades of public taxes. At the national rate in our country alone, it costs $34,135 per year to house an average prisoner. This cost roughly doubles when that prisoner is over 50.20 due to much more medical attention and more needs of the inmate therefore, a 50-year sentence for a 16-year old will cost approximately $2.25 million.
The cost can range all the way up to 1 million dollars just for a single death penalty case. Since capital punishment trails are longer and more intensive they tend to cost a lot more than the normal murder trails. Due to the high costs of every death penalty case there has been economic crisis in many states. In the past, around 3,000 prisoners were released early in Florida and prisoners in Texas only served 20% of their time. Rearrests are seen common in these states because millions of dollars are used for the death penalty instead of preventing crime. Most of the money is not used for crime prevention programs that could decrease the amount of crimes more effectively. Texas has one of the most people in the death row but its murder rate is also one of the highest. The politicians who support the death penalty believe that death penalty respond better to the crime. They also think that using the death penalty will make them have a stronger image. Not taking into account of the lack of funding, many do not realize that a single death penalty reduces the resources in the area. The million dollars could be used for long term crime reduction programs such as increasing the amount of police officers or even drug rehabilitation programs. Every death penalty trial is seen as a luxury item even if the person does not get the death penalty
Compared to the death penalty, life in prison is perceived as an ethical decision, while the choice to inflict the death penalty is irreversible, the latter allows for better judgement in the long run. An article from, the Nation, contrasts the costs between both methods, "carrying out an execution costs at least twice as much-and perhaps five times as much- as sentencing a murderer to life without parole" (David Dow, Life Without Parole: A Different Death Penalty, the Nation). Clearly, if the economy is to be impacted to such an extent, then law enforcement must re-evaluate whether or not the death penalty is actually meaningful in the long run. If the government were to eliminate the funding used for resources towards the death row, and instead facilitate the money elsewhere, it would serve more meaningful purposes. Moreover, life in prison guarantees a, "Swift, severe punishment. It provides justice to survivors of murder victims and allows more resources to be invested in preventing violence." (Is Life in Prison without Parole a Better Option then Death Penalty, ProCon). The answer to seeking justice for one crime, should not be answered for by committing another. If this were a concept applied by people in everyday life, then murder rates would escalate and hold potential for anarchy. On a realistic thought, a majority of the problems related to the death penalty can be avoided through a more humane penance. It also leads to whether or not government institutions should have the warrant to issue capital
When released they go back out in society and commit the same crime or a crime worse than before. Sentencing them to life in prison places other prisoners and staff at risk. When placed in jail knowing they have nothing else to lose with a life sentence, society has now let a murderer free in jail to murder at will. However, if released into society you now put an entire population of individuals at risk. Wesley Lowe, author of “The Morality of Capital Punishment:” on the “ Pro Death Penalty Webpage,” states the following, “The recidivism rate for capital punishment is zero. No executed murderer has ever killed again. You can’t say that about those sentenced to prison even if you are an abolitionist”(27).
All of the studies on the cost of capital punishment conclude it is much more expensive than a system with life sentences as the maximum penalty. Cases without the death penalty cost roughly $740,000 while cases where the death penalty is sought cost about $1.26 million. Maintaining each death row prisoner costs taxpayers $90,000 more per year than a prisoner in general population. (Top 10 Pros… 2015). A study of the cost of the death penalty in Colorado showed that death penalty proceedings required six times the days in court and took much longer to solve than life-without-parole (LWOP) cases. When people try to say it cost less to tax payers to put a man to death then to care for them in prisons for life they are not aware of the facts. Why do these cases take so long from sentencing to execution? After a person is convicted of a capital crime, they tend not to accept a sentence of "death" without a fight. They appeal to a higher court, and a higher one and a higher one, trying to overturn their conviction for any reason. Resolving those numerous appeals takes years. It's built into the system, and it helps to ensure that the State is certain of a person's guilt before the actual execution. According to a study published in 2004 in the Journal of Parable legal studies, five percent of the 5,826 death sentences imposed from 1973 to 1995 were carried out in those years. The study found there was a 68%
Not only does the death penalty not deter crime but it is also very expensive. The death penalty costs so much because of the appeal process. The appeal process is a very long and expensive process that can go on forever and costs the government millions. Many assume that abolishing the death penalty is wrong because it becomes unfair to the taxpayers because they think the cost is less than that of life in prison without parole. However life in prison is less expensive than the death penalty (Bedau). The death penalty is actually three times more than keeping a prisoner in prison for life without parole (Messerli). Death penalty trials are costly as well. “[S]tudies estimate that death penalty trials cost $1
The primary purpose of the criminal justice system is to protect society. All features of the system; detaining delinquents, trials, and punishments all have costs. Reduction in any part of the criminal justice system can potentially result in a harmful society. The question most asked about the death penalty is, “Why should honest, hardworking taxpayers, have to pay for murderers for the rest of their life instead of executing them?” Actually the death penalty is the most expensive part off the system. According to Dr. Ernest Gross, a Creighton University economics professor, who conducted a study in August 2016, the death penalty cost an average 23.2 million more per year than alternative sentences (Gross). The study found that states with the death penalty spend about 3.54% of overall state budgets on court, corrections and other criminal justice functions associated with the death penalty, while states without the death penalty spend about 2.93% on those functions (Gross). The death penalty is more expensive than life without parole because the constitution requires an extensive and complex judicial process for capital crimes. This is to ensure that innocent men and women are not executed for crimes they did not
"In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years". In terms of cost, capital punishment costs more than a lifetime of imprisonment. The government has to pay more money for a person who was sentenced to death because of more trials, which would result to more fees. The death penalty requires a lot more trials because a life will be taken away. The government could save about $500,000 from each prisoner by putting them in
The death penalty is not only inhumane but too easy for these criminals that deserve it. The life sentence is swift, severe and certain punishment according to The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU, 2015). Sentencing someone to die in jail is a pragmatic alternative to public safety along with murder victims’ families to still provide them with justice. The death penalty can be consider the easy way out. Being only about 20 minutes of terror. The life sentence gets more justice out of the criminal, they have to sit in a cell for the
The advantages of life imprisonment are few but worth looking over, for example it saves an abundant amount of money. It costs tax payers $90,000 more per prisoner each year for inmates on death row then they pay for the general prison population. Also it saves many innocent lives of those who were wrongly accused. “More than 200 innocent men and women have been freed from prison in California after it was discovered that they were wrongfully convicted; three of them were sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit” (“The Truth,” n.d.).