Death Penalty

1163 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Capital punishment and its effects

Death Penalty

Virtually every major program designed to address the underlying causes of violence and to support the poor, vulnerable, powerless victims of crime is being cut even further to the bone… In this context, the proposition that the death penalty is a needed addition to our arsenal of weapons lacks credibility…

Scott Harshbarge, Attorney General of Massachusetts

Across the United States, police officers are losing their jobs, prisoners are obtaining parole early, courts are clogging with cases, and crime is on the rise. Over two-thirds of the states use capital punishment, which is a grave mistake by any measure of cost effectiveness. The government spends hundreds of millions of dollars in order to punish a few individuals each year. Yet, these actions do nothing to slow the rise in violent crimes. Moreover, the death penalty has been used to portray toughness on crime, but it actually leaves communities worse off in their fight against crime. At the same time that states are pouring money into the capital punishment black hole, lack of funds is also causing the criminal justice system to break down. Consequently, the public is left with fewer resources, which otherwise could benefit their entire community. Every working person in the United States pays taxes to fund the government. However, is the death penalty a cost-effective way to use the taxpayer's money? After evaluating the cost of the death penalty and the effects of paying that cost, one would agree that the death penalty is not a cost-effective way to fight crime and thus the government should abolish the death penalty.

The death penalty is much more expensive than life imprisonment. In Texas, "the death penalty cost taxpayers an average o...

... middle of paper ...

...day, 14 June 1989, 60.

C. Hoppe, Executions Cost Texas Millions," The Dallas Morning News, 8 March 1992, 1A.

P. Cook and D. Slawson, The Cost of Processing Murder Cases in North Carolina, May 1993.

S. Magagnini, "Closing Death Row Would Save State $90 Million a Year," The Sacramento Bee, March 28, 1998, 1.

D. Von Drehle, "Bottom Line: Life in Prison One-sixth as Expensive," The Miami Herald, 10 July 1988, 12A.

Von Drehle.

Magagnini.

Moran & Ellis.

Ibid.

ABA study, "Funding the Justice System: A Call to Action," A report by the American Bar Association, August 1992, 3.

L. Biene, "No Saving in Lives or Money with Death Penalty," The New York Time, 7 August 1988.

Von Drehle.

Magagnini.

C. Hoppe.

Von Drehle.

Ibid.

J. Painter, "Death Penalty Seen as Too Costly for Oregon's Pocketbook," The Oregonian, 27 July 1997.

Show More
Related

  • America’s Prisons and Their Effects On Society

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    Trachtenberg, B. (2009, February). Incarceration policy strikes out: Exploding prison population compromises the U.S. justice system. ABA Journal, 66.

    Read More

  • Sherman Alexie and Native American Writing

    1428 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...eter, Richard C. “Death Penalty Information Center” A Crisis of Confidence: Americans’ Doubts about the Death Penalty. 2007. 1-30 Print.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment: California's Financial Burden and Legal Nightmare

    1436 Words  | 3 Pages

    Notwithstanding issues of morality, the death penalty process of California is financially inefficient and ineffective. At the current rate of executions, “it would take 1,600 years to execute everybody on death row.” [The Death of the American Death Penalty, 122] The average delay in implementing a death sentence calculates out to be 25 years, at an added cost of $90,000 per year over normal incarceration. [Guy, 2] This is a “premium that currently totals more than $60 million a year” [Guy, 2]. When you take the added costs of death row incarceration and total them up with the additional costs of prosecution and the handling of the many legal appeals death row inmates are entitled to, the unnecessary amount of spending is significant. We could eliminate “$126 million a year” in additional costs by simply sentencing death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. [Guy, 2] Because of the afo...

    Read More

  • The Abolishment of the Death Penalty is Necessary to Achieve a Utopian Society

    684 Words  | 2 Pages

    The United States should dispose of the death penalty due to the astronomical price it costs taxpayers to execute a prisoner. It is sometimes suggested that abolishing capital punishment is unfair to the taxpayer, as though life imprisonment were obviously more expensive than executions. If one takes into account all of the relevant costs, the reverse is true. The death penalty is not now, nor has it ever been, a more economical alternative to life imprisonment. A murderer trial normally takes much longer when the death penalty is at issue than when it is not. Litigation costs- including the time of the judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and court reporters are all borne by the taxpayer. Florida, with one of the nations largest death rows, is a ...

    Read More

  • Border Patrol

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Schmalleger, Frank, Criminal Justice A Brief Introduction, Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson Education Inc. , 2010, Page 387

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Capital Punishment

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cases in which the death penalty is gone after are more expensive and take more time to solve than non capital cases. “Even when a trial wasn’t necessary, those cases where the death penalty was sought still cost about twice as much as those where death was not sought” (Erb 1). The added money is due to legal representation, enhanced security for death row, and the costs it takes to go through the motions of a trial such as this. "The additional cost of confining an inmate to death row, as compared to the maximum security prisons where those sentenced to life without possibility of parole ordinarily serve their sentences, is $90,000 per year per inmate” (The Death Penalty 8). With California’s current death row (670) this would generate $63.3 million dollars per year. This is important because it shows factual stats about how much these cases cost vs regular cases and how much money could be saved if the death penalty was eliminated. These statistics show my thesis is correct because the high costs are one of the reasons why the death penalty might be

    Read More

  • Death Penalty: Justice or Revenge?

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    The cost of the death penalty is extraordinary. California has spent more than $4 billion administering the death penalty since 1978, or more than $300 million per person for each of the 13 people who have been executed since the death penalty was reinstated. Conversely, it costs approximately $200,000 to $300,000 to convict and sentence an individual to life without the possibility of parole. If those sentenced to death received life sentences instead, we accomplish the same deterrent effect of the death penalty: criminals remain off the streets for the rest of their lives. The money saved could be spent on improving the criminal justice system such as increasing

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    Upon examination, one finds capital punishment to be economically weak and deficient. A common misconception of the death penalty is that the cost to execute a convicted criminal is cheaper than to place a convict in prison for life without parole. Due to the United States judicial system, the process of appeals, which is inevitable with cases involving death as the sentence, incurs an extreme cost and is very time consuming. The cost of a capital trial and execution can be two to six times greater than the amount of money needed to house and feed a prisoner for life. "Studies show incarceration costs roughly $20,000 per inmate per year ($800,000 if a person lives 40 years in prison). Research also shows a death-penalty ease costs roughly $2 million per execution," (Kaplan 2). Capital punishment is extremely expensive and depletes state governments of money that could be used for a wide range of programs that are beneficial. As Belolyn Wiliams-Harold, an author for the journal Black Enterprise, writes that county governments are typically responsible for the costs of prosecution and the costs of the criminal trial, including attorney's fees, and salaries for the members of the courtroom. All this money is spent at the expense of the corrections department and crime prevention programs, which are already is strapped for cash (Williams-Harlod 1). These "financial constraints," such as capital punishment, do not promote a healthy, commercial society, but actually cost and harm the public.

    Read More

  • Abolishing the Death Penalty in Louisiana

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although some claim that “getting rid” of Louisiana’s worst criminals gives the public peace of mind, this peace of mind comes at a tremendous cost. The extra money spent on the death penalty could be spent on other means of achieving justice and making the community safer: compensation for victims, better lighting in crime areas, more police on the streets, even longer periods of incarceration for certain offenders, or projects to reduce unemployment. Quite a few jurisdictions with the death penalty have recently had to cut back on other vital services. In some states, people are being released from prison early as a cost saving measure. Other states are closing libraries and government funded offices. A second reason why the costs of the death penalty are so central is that they play a key role in how the death penalty is implemented. Supporters and opponents of the death penalty agree that the capital punishment system should not take unnecessary risks with innocent lives and should be applied with a strict fairness. As with many things, the death penalty really isn’t a bargain. There is no abstract dollar figure for the cost of the death penalty and it depends on the quality of the system one demands.

    Read More

  • Mentally ill Criminals

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    " Mental Illness and the Death Penalty." American Civil Liberties Union. May 5, 2009. Web. 04

    Read More

  • The Death Penalty

    1561 Words  | 4 Pages

    The cost of the Death Penalty is highly expensive. A case to put someone in jail costs on average two million three hundred thousand dollars on average while to put an inmate in jail for forty years cost on average seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars (Friedman 11). In Texas the death penalty cost three times more money than putting an inmate in the highest security level in a jail for forty years (4). It also takes time for a death penalty case to be processed and a convict to be sentenced to the death penalty. Then it takes more time for the state to act and to administer the death penalty to people on death row. On average it takes ten to twenty years to execute a convicted criminal on death row (Friedman 11). Costs could be lowered by shortening the appeal process but this would only increase the risk of executing an innocent person.

    Read More

  • History of the Death Penalty and Why It Is Not Wrong

    3309 Words  | 7 Pages

    “The case Against the Death Penalty.” aclu.org. American Civil Liberties Union, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment Justified

    1152 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fein, Bruce. "Individual Rights and Responsibility - The Death Penalty, But Sparingly." Speech. American Bar Association. Feb. 2003. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

    Read More

  • The Death Penalty Should Be Allowed

    1601 Words  | 4 Pages

    However, on the other hand, to execute death penalty is also costly. In the article, “Death Penalty Is Too Expensive for States, Study Find”, Warren Richey mentioned about the cost of death penalty. For example, in the article, he said “New York spent $170 million over nine years on capital cases before repealing the death penalty. No executions were carried out there. New Jersey spent $253 million over 25 years with no executions.” He also menti...

    Read More

  • Death Penalty Position Paper

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    The death penalty is an economically wasteful method of punishment. It has been calculated that “if the death penalty was extinguished…we could save $11 million a year” (Locke). While this may not seem a significant sum, ...

    Read More

More about Death Penalty

Open Document