Capital Punishment

The Economics of the Death Penalty

For as long as governments have executed people, there has been tremendous debate over the topic of capital punishment. Capital punishment is defined as, the direct killing of someone who, virtually always, has been convicted of a crime by the state authority that orders the execution as per the provision of a law allowing capital punishment. (Abello 1)

Capital punishment over time cost a lot of money. The work that goes into the cases is much more intensive than a normal trial. The trials can take, years before even coming to a verdict or settlement. The evidence must fit the case precisely. The tax payees of America have to pay around $250,000 dollars extra for death penalty alone.

The argument of Capital Punishment has been an issue for many years now the United States. The question remains; which one is more cost effective: life in prison or capital punishment?

The United States of America allows, each state to determine whether or not to use capital punishment. Arguments have arisen whether capital punishment is a deterrent to those who would commit crimes punishable by death. Others have argued the morality of whether or not

it is alright to take the life of someone as punishment, citing the commandment, “Thou shall not kill”Ð'Ñœ Still others have argued that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment, something that is forbidden by the Constitution of the United States of America.

Today there are thirty-eight states where the death penalty is legal. From 1977 to 1992, one hundred eight-eight people were executed, and since then an additional three hundred seventy-seven people have been executed (Death Penalty Information Center).

The death penalty is viewed differently by many different Human Rights Groups; “Amnesty International believes, “The death penalty violates the right to life. It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It has no place in a modern criminal justice system. An execution, just like torture, involves a deliberate assault on a prisoner. Even so-called 'humane' methods such as lethal injection can entail excruciating suffering. Capital punishment is irrevocable. All judicial systems make mistakes, and as long as the death penalty persists, innocent people will be executed. It is also discriminatory and is often used disproportionately against the poor, the powerless and the marginalized, as well as against people whom repressive governments want to eliminate. The death penalty does not deter crime more than other punishments. In Canada the homicide rate has fallen by 40 per cent since 1975; the death penalty was abolished for murder in 1976.”

One of the reasons that executing someone is so expensive is because the process that leads to execution takes a long time, and costs more than actually keeping that person in prison. A Capital case is defined as, “A prosecution for murder in which the jury is also asked to decide if the defendant is guilty and, if he is, whether he should be put to death. When a prosecutor brings a capital case (also called a death penalty case), he/she must charge one or more "special circumstance" that the jury must find to be true in order to sentence the defendant to death. Each state (and the federal government) has its own list of special circumstances, but common ones include multiple murders, use of bomb or a finding that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.”Ð'Ñœ(Nolo 1)

Capital punishment cases take much longer at every stage of the legal system. The attorneys and the defense spend much more time, and money working on these. There are many more pre-trial motions, involving the time of both attorneys and the courts. There is a separate penalty phase in capital cases, an example of a case that involved the death penalty would be, Laci’s Peterson’s Case.

The conviction that Laci's s Peterson’s husband was facing is, the murdering of his wife and unborn child. In this case, a separate jury has to be selected, which has taken several weeks and a great deal of money. Also a separate penalty phase will be held in front of this new jury.

In the Peterson trial, many witnesses were called in, including parents, friends, and clergy members. The witnesses were put on the stand and asked weather or not Peterson killed his wife and unborn child. The final outcome of the trial was, The jury decided Monday that Scott Peterson should be executed for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, whose Christmas Eve disappearance two years ago was the opening act in a legal drama that captivated the nation.(Finney 1).

In California’s law system there is automatically an appeal of any case where the death penalty might be involved. With an appeal, there has to be a full briefing and argument to the new judge hearing the case, and a great deal of time and expense will go into the selection of yet another jury who must be found.(Law L 2)

A study in North Carolina, reported that capital trials take four times as long to try as cases that did not have the death penalty as a possible outcome. Furthermore, the study found that only about one-third actually resulted in the death penalty (Economics of Capital Punishment). Because there are many other factors that go into trying a capital case, any case where the death penalty is possible is extremely expensive.

The Supreme Court and the local courts have the final say in what the final verdict will be on a capital case. “In the federal government and those states that recognize death for capital offense convictions, the laws governing capital punishment are in a constant state of change. The U.S. Supreme Court yields the authority to interpret the law to decide capital offense issues that affect the laws of the entire nation. The Supreme Court has decided that death for a capital offense does not violate the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The Court has also judged that a jury trial is not necessary for the sentencing of life or death for a capital offense”. (Capital Offense 1). Since some capital cases don’t need a jury trial, the cost can be cut down.

The state of Texas is one of the first states to use the death penalty, first starting in 1928. According to, Sandra N. Bragg, Legislative Fellow: The only readily available costs are for incarceration. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the approximate cost of housing a male death row inmate at the Ellis Unit in Huntsville is $48.45 per day ($17,684.25) per year or $183,739.36 based on an