C.P. is more costly.
Although less important than other issues, the higher cost of executing an individual is yet another reason why the death penalty should not be used.

Recent Cost Studies

  • A 2003 legislative audit in Kansas found that the estimated cost of a death penalty case was 70% more than the cost of a comparable non-death penalty case. Death penalty case costs were counted through to execution (median cost $1.26 million). Non-death penalty case costs were counted through to the end of incarceration (median cost $740,000).
    (December 2003 Survey by the Kansas Legislative Post Audit)
  • In Tennessee, death penalty trials cost an average of 48% more than the average cost of trials in which prosecutors seek life imprisonment.
    (2004 Report from Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Office of Research)
  • In Maryland death penalty cases cost 3 times more than non-death penalty cases, or $3 million for a single case.
    (Urban Institute, The Cost of the Death Penalty in Maryland, March 2008)
  • In California the current sytem costs $137 million per year; it would cost $11.5 million for a system without the death penalty.
    (California Commission for the Fair Administration of Justice, July 2008)
CONTEXT(Help)
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Capital Punishment »Capital Punishment
Good // Bad »Good // Bad
Convicted criminals should not be executed. »Convicted criminals should not be executed.
C.P. is more costly.
Overburdened courts. »Overburdened courts.
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