Death Penalty Cost

The death penalty has been argued about for years. Only 19 states (including district of Columbia) do not have the death penalty. Because of the cost of death vs. life in prison, irrevocable mistakes, and morality, the death penalty should definitely be discontinued.

The death penalty is the highest possible sentence a criminal can get, and it is also the most expensive and time consuming. From 1976 to 2011, 1,264 executions took place in the United States; one lethal injection averages $1.26 million. A single trial can lead a local government into financial instability and pull money from other important government services. This paper demonstrates the high cost consequences of the death penalty to states, taxpayers, and personnel working within the justice system. It also analyzes the reason behind why people in poverty are more likely to receive the death penalty when they commit a capital crime than the upper class.

Over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries use of the death penalty was increasingly restricted to the most serious offences. It was removed from pickpocketing in 1808, and from many more offences in the 1820s and 1830s. By the 1840s only those found guilty of the most serious offences (murder, wounding, violent theft, arson, sodomy) were sentenced to death (though only murderers were actually executed), and the 1861 Offences Against the Persons Act abolished the death penalty for all offences except for murder and High Treason.

Using the death penalty cost more than life in prison. Having to execute someone costs about 1.26 million dollars while life in prison costs 740,000 thousand dollars. 31 states out of 19 still use the death penalty. There is a noticeable difference between the states that use and those that do not use the death penalty like lower homicide rates and the effects it has on society. The death penalty is a tool that people say helps stop crime and makes the world a safer place but studies show that the death penalty has bad effects. The death penalty actually increases crime and has bad effects on society. There have been studies and statistics used to see how the death penalty affects people and if it is actually helping or increasing crime. There

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 most important reason why the death penalty should not be abolished is because we need capital punishment for those cases in which a killer is beyond redemption. “Some claim lift without parole is an appropriate alternative to the death penalty” (23). Others say if you kill, you should be killed or if you commit a crime that is bad that you should be killed. “According to Gallup polls, 60 percent of Americans support the death penalty for a person convicted of murder” (23). Therefore more than half of Americans are for the death penalty/capital

Since 1973, more than 140 people in the united states who were on death row were proven innocent. In fact the number of people who are being exonerated went from an average of 3 people from 1973 to 1999, up to an average of five people from 2000 to 2011. By state, Florida has exonerated the most people, with 25 and Illinois following with 20 and Texas with 12. Since the people who are put on death row are going to be exonerated anyway, there is no point of having a death penalty in the first place unless there is a need for more taxes. (Death Penalty Information Center)

The death penalty should still be in use to lower the amount of money that the government spends on prisons and their inmates. According to Garmon & John in their

     Why should the death penalty be abolished? The death penalty should be abolished because of many reasons. Many people believe the saying, 'an eye for an eye'. But when will people realize that just because someone may have killed a loved one that the best thing for that person is to die also. People don't realize that they are putting the blood of another person life on their hands. This makes them just as guilty as the person who committed the crime: the only difference is that they didn't use weapon except their mouth to kill them. The death penalty should be abolished because it is racist, punishes the poor, condemns those who are innocent to death, and is a cruel punishment.

-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.

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.

II. Second Main Point: The excessive cost of execution is also a reason for the death penalty to be abolished. To keep a man in prison for one 's whole life cost less than executing him. A state would save millions of dollars if they did away with death row and executions.

One reason the death penalty is strongly objected is purely based on practical economic grounds. The cost in death penalty cases has become expensive compared to housing them for life, even when sentenced to life without the possibility of parole has created us several complications. The majority of these capital cases require several members of counsel, the deposition of additional expert witnesses, the expensive procedure of DNA testing, and more times than not they become very drawn out inflating the cost of each person involved, and time equals more money. District attorneys and defense counsel can spend in excess of a year preparing for cases involving a sentence of capital punishment. (per inter) In addition to this, all successful death

The death penalty is very costly to not only the government, but also society. The death penalty has no benefits at all and should be

Some people appose the death penalty because they believe it cost more to kill the person than to keep them in prison for life. If you put any thought into this at all, you will see that it is entirely wrong. If you put someone in jail for life, you have to feed them every single day, keep them sheltered, and take up the space in the jails. If you put someone to death, you don't have to worry about any of that. The cost of executions is far less than life in jail. Death penalty cases have alot of appeals, that cost alot of money, but life without parole cases have just about the same amount of appeals and cost just the same. When it comes down to it, putting the murderers in our country to death saves money, time, and space in our jails.