The exuberant cost of the death penalty

[Rumbero]

Yesterday on the news they announced that California has spent over 4 Billion Taxpayer Dollars to execute 14 men: That's over 300 Million each, which is over 25 times the cost of leaving them incarcerated for life.

The costs of maintaining the Death Penalty is projected to reach 6-7 Billion in the next 10 years.

Now, apart from whether you are pro or against the Death Penalty in general, it's mind-boggling to me that with the state of the economy and with all the current budget cutting, to continue to absorb these ridiculous exuberant costs to maintain Capital Punishment. The (ROI) Return On Investment does not justify the cost.

California is cutting Firemen, Police, Education, placing mandatory furloughs on government officials and shutting down parks and development projects.

I would rather see my tax dollars going into just about any of the above rather than paying for the numerous legal fee to execute somebody.

Lastly, with all the cuts to the Justice System (i.e Police Officers, Investigators, etc..) the murder rates are going up. I'm certain adequate Police Force and Investigators have a HIGHER impact on the reduction and control of crime than the potential threat of execution.

Is time to Kill the Death Penalty.. ...

[SatvikBeri]

Originally Posted by Rumbero

Yesterday on the news they announced that California has spent over 4 Billion Taxpayer Dollars to execute 14 men: That's over 300 Million each, which is over 25 times the cost of leaving them incarcerated for life.

This is exactly why I am against the death penalty-it provides no concrete benefit in terms of reducing crime, and is a huge economic drain. Same with the illegalization of drugs/prostitution.

[SnerpGoodWord]

California could screw up nearly anything. Texas spends about $2-3M per execution, not hundreds of million. That's cheaper than life imprisonment - or at least certainly cheaper than imprisonment in California. Texas keeps prisoners cheaper too. This is an argument against incompetent state governments, not the death penalty.

[SatvikBeri]

Originally Posted by SnerpGoodWord

California could screw up nearly anything. Texas spends about $2-3M per execution, not hundreds of million. That's cheaper than life imprisonment - or at least certainly cheaper than imprisonment in California. Texas keeps prisoners cheaper too. This is an argument against incompetent state governments, not the death penalty.

Do you have a citation for this? Most of the sources I've read say that even in Texas, the average death penalty costs 5 times as much as imprisoning someone for 40 years in maximum security.

[SnerpGoodWord]

Originally Posted by SatvikBeri

Do you have a citation for this? Most of the sources I've read say that even in Texas, the average death penalty costs 5 times as much as imprisoning someone for 40 years in maximum security.

Texas' current death penalty related budget is about $90M/year and they execute an average of about 25 people per year. That works out to 3.6M, which I think is a little more expensive than what their historical average has been.

Be aware that when people make claims about the cost of housing inmates for life, they often leave things out - medical/old age care, pensions for prison guards, additional burdens on the court system due to prisoner legal actions, etc. It's an easy way to bias the argument.