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The cost of capital punishment essay
Economic questions about capital punishment
Price of capital punishment
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We live in a republic, where we have a voice on government and pay taxes to help keep aspects of our society we want to keep. These tax dollars can go to a number of places including education, architecture, social service programs, and to keep criminals off the street. In the matter of the justice system, the cost of giving a fair trial and paying for incarceration of individuals gets expensive. For capital punishment, the trial must be given in two-stages, thus increasing the amount of money needed for the trial to occur. In a state where the death penalty is active, a capital punishment trial can cost the state at least $100,000.00 more than if it were a regular murder trial (Dieter). The two-stage trial is a mandate from the federal government …show more content…
This process includes the criminal trying to get the sentence appealed by having another court look at the trial and decide if a legal mistake was made, and if the sentence should be withheld. This entire process continues for years, while the criminal sits on death row costing taxpayers double the amount it does to house an ordinary inmate (Erb). When the appeals process is over, the criminal is faced with their “last-meal” and is sent to their death-bed to endure the lethal injection of medication designed to stop their heart and lungs, This concoction of medication costs anywhere from $600.00 to $1500.00, plus a couple million on the pre-trial and appeals process costs (Safdar). For terms of total financing: “In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years” (Dieter). In the state of New York, implementing the death penalty would cost $118 million annually due to the rising costs of the medications, appeals, and the trial and counsel needed. This money could be given to restore roads and public services, or even implement a new public service
The death penalty is much more expensive than life without parole because the Constitution requires a long and complex judicial process for capital cases. If the death penalty was replaced with a sentence of Life Without the Possibility of Parole, which costs millions less and also ensures that the public is protected while eliminating the risk of an mistake, the money saved could be spent on programs that actually improve the communities in which we live. Scientific studies have consistently failed to demonstrate that executions deter people from committing crime anymore than long prison sentences. Moreover, states without the death penalty have much lower murder rates. The South accounts for 80% of US executions and has the highest regional murder rate (Death Penalty
Even the worst crimes should not be paid with the simple escape of death. The death penalty costs far more than a life sentence, though it seems like the opposite would be true. With the multiple appeals and trials and relocations, it’s millions down the drain. According to deathpenalty.org it costs taxpayers $90,000 more a year to maintain a death row prisoner versus maintaining a prisoner in general population. Add in the cost of execution depending on the method, $24 million for each electrocution in Florida, at least $86 per lethal injection, around $25,000 for a fire squad execution,(deathpenaltyinfo.org) and it’s even more for a quick end.
At first glance, it may seem that maintaining a life-term prisoner is more burdensome for taxpayers. However, according to Richard C. Dieter, the cost of a death penalty may amount to or even surpass the expenditures of handling less severe punishments for similar cases. Actually, the imposition of capital punishment requires complicated and numerous trials which can take a great amount of time. During this period, the defendant remains incarcerated and his maintenance is paid for with taxpayers’ money. Additional pre-trial time is needed to impose a death sentence with the involvement law experts, attorneys and additional trials (Dieter). All of these procedures require additional expenditures which make a death trial a costly
prisoner than to keep him. In New Jersey ?$253 million? has been spent in the Capital punishment sector and they?ve killed a sum total of zero people. The cost of maintaining the equipment is exorbitant and the drugs are especially expensive. If the conviction is wrong the government can be sued for massive amounts.
Unlike popular belief, the cost of sentencing someone to death is actually more expensive than a life sentence in prison. In Washington, since the death penalty was reinstated 5 people have been put to death costing taxpayers roughly $120 million, that's roughly $24 million per case (Seattle University, 2015). A reason that people advocate strongly for the death penalty is because they believe that they should not have to pay for the costs to keep criminals fed, sheltered and imprisoned. In fact, 56% of Canadians surveyed believed that the one time cost of a lethal injection is cheaper and will allow their money to go towards something more advantageous like healthcare or education (Angus Reid). This is actually quite different from the truth, in fact is estimated that it costs $740 000 on average to put someone in prison for life. It is also estimated that it costs roughly $1.26 million to sentence someone to death (Seattle University, 2015). (There seems to be a discrepancy between how much a single case costs and how much Washington spent since the death penalty has been reinstated, but I could not find evidence to why that is). Among the reasons why the death penalty is so expensive is the fact that the time in courts is quite lengthy. Jury trials averaged 40.13 days in cases where the death penalty was being sought, but only 16.79 days
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.
The criminal trial process is able to reflect the moral and ethical standards of society to a great extent. For the law to be effective, the criminal trial process must reflect what is accepted by society to be a breach of moral and ethical conduct and the extent to which protections are granted to the victims, the offenders and the community. For these reasons, the criminal trial process is effectively able to achieve this in the areas of the adversary system, the system of appeals, legal aid and the jury system.
The use of evidence and witnesses is a mechanism in which the law attempts to balance the rights of victims and offenders in the criminal trial process. Evidence used in court are bound by the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) and have to be lawfully obtained by the police. The use of evidence and witnesses balance the victims’ rights to a great extent. However, it is ineffective in balancing the rights of offenders. The law has been progressive in protecting the rights of victims in the use and collection of evidence and witness statements. The Criminal Procedure Amendment (Domestic Violence Complainants) Bill 2014, which amends the Criminal Procedure Act 1986, passed the NSW Legislative Council on 18 November 2014. The amendment enables victims of
The Motion for a New Trial requests that the Court determine whether the Government violated the Nanda Defendants’ Fifth Amendment Right to Due Process by introducing false evidence or withholding material evidence at trial to warrant the Court to grant the motion for a new trial.
The Miranda warnings stem from a United States Court’s decision in the case, Miranda v. Arizona. There are two basic conditions that must be met for Miranda warnings to be required: the suspect must be in official police custody and the suspect must be under interrogation. The suspect goes through a booking process after an arrest. The suspect will have a bond hearing shortly after the completion of the booking process or after arraignment. The arraignment is the suspect’s first court appearance to officially hear the charges filed against him or her and to enter a plea. The preliminary hearing or grand jury proceeding determines if there is substantial evidence for the suspect to be tried for the crime charged. In this essay, I will identify and describe at least four rights afforded criminal defendants at the arrest stage and during pretrial. I will analyze the facts presented and other relevant factors in the scenario provided. I will cite legal authority to support my conclusions.
Many people, including some higher educated people, tend to believe that executing someone is a lot cheaper than the alternative, which is life in prison without the possibility of parole. Indeed, this thought seems like common sense. However, extensive research has been conducted that contradicts that belief. For instance, a study conducted in Maryland, in 2008, found that the state spends roughly 1.9 million dollars more per capital case, compared to non-capital cases (Warden, 2009). But how can this be some may ask. Well, the reason capital punishment costs more than life without the possibility of parole, is because death penalty cases are longer and more expensive. Because the capital punishment is an irreversible sentence, the state, or government, is required to heighten the defendant’s due process in order to decrease the chance of the defendant being innocent (DPIC). Furthermore, not only is it more expensive for the trial phase, it is also a higher price for a state to imprison death row inmates compared to other
“The right of a criminal defendant to a fair trial is absolute... The right to a fair trial is one to be enjoyed by the guilty as well as the innocent, for a defendant is presumed to be innocent until proved to be otherwise in a fairly conducted trial,” (Randall v. R. (Cayman Islands), 2002). The concept of fair trial is self-explanatory; it simply means an impartial trial that is executed to grant each party involved in a case their fundamental right which guarantees them a right to due. The scenario provided gives rise to issues of contempt of court, the sub judice rule and the code of ethics for media professionals. This essay will expound on the aforementioned issues, discuss whether or not the comments made by Speek Owt are licit and state the consequences to be faced by him and Scandal FM.
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...
The death penalty is extremely expensive and there is at least one alternative that is just as effective. As Eric Freedman, a lawyer and professor at Hofstra University School of Law in New York, divulges “Contrary to popular intuition, a system with a death penalty is vastly more expensive than one where the maximum penalty is keeping murderers in prison for life.” Many people question why it cost this much simply to execute a person. When one thinks about it, the costs involved in executing an inmate appear simple and minuscule. The author of “Costs Of Capital Punishment” brings to light that the state of Florida paid $150 to the executioner, $20 for the last meal, $150 for a new suit for the inmate's burial, and $525 for the undertaker's services and a coffin. Making Florida’s cost of an execution less than $1,000 in 2003.What many people do not realize is that all of the appeals and trials necessary to give someone the death penalty are what make it so costly. The "Costs Of Capital Punishment” author also s...
If a criminal is sentenced to life in jail, then the cost of their imprisonment would be many times this. In the USA, the average cost per prisoner annually in jail is $29,000. The cost of the drugs used for the lethal injection is believed to be $86.08. This is far less than the cost of keeping a prisoner in jail, and would save the government money that could be used to try and make the community a better and safer place. Secondly, many believe that capital punishment is right because of the justice given to the victim’s family.