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Too Much Capital in Capital Punishment?

Discussion
Feb 24, 2009
by: zack

The death penalty is a subject that can heat up a debate faster than hot pocket in a microwave. People defending capital punishment often state that it is a crime deterrent, offers closure to the families of the victims, and is more cost efficient than keeping a criminal in prison for the rest of their lives. Those who oppose the death penalty say that killing is wrong no matter who does it, there is no way to prove beyond all doubt that someone is guilty of a crime, and that the death penalty costs the state far more money than to imprison someone for their whole life. If you didn't notice both sides seem to think that cost is on their side.

the death penalty system is clearly more expensive than a system handling similar cases with a lesser punishment.

Death Penalty - ProCon.org

 

    You may be wondering how much it could possibly cost to strap someone down, and inject them with poison? The majority of the costs come from the extensive appeals process that comes with the death penalty.

 

Using conservative rough projections, the Commission estimates the annual costs of the present (death penalty) system to be $137 million per year.

Costs of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center

 

    When you take into account the enormous ammount of money the government spends, this may not seem like that much money.

 

A new study released by the Urban Institute on March 6, 2008 forecasted that the lifetime expenses of capitally-prosecuted cases since 1978 will cost Maryland taxpayers $186 million. That translates into at least $37.2 million for each of the state’s five executions since the state reenacted the death penalty. The study estimates that the average cost to Maryland taxpayers for reaching a single death sentence is $3 million - $1.9 million more than the cost of a non-death penalty case

Costs of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center

        

 

    1.9 million dollars on just one case. That is a lot of money for anyone, even the U.S. Government.

Comments

 Dear Zach, I myself have

Submitted by Dan Goodman on Sun, 2011-03-06 23:45.

 Dear Zach,

I myself have been researching into the death penalty and why it is still legal in this country. One of the things you stated was that those who support the death penalty say that it is a crime deterrant. Now, nothing could be further from the truth. I found a site online, that shows that in 2008, the average murder rate of states that use the death penalty was 5.2, while in states that don't use the death penalty, the average murder rate was 3.3. Likewise, in 2009 the average murder rate of states that use the death penalty was 4.9, and the average murder rates for states that don't use the death penalty was 2.8. Overall, this just goes to show that the death penalty doesn't deter crime, but seems to make it worse on a state wide scale.
Another site that I have found incredibly helpful in providing information on the death penalty came from SIRS. Essentially, this site provided a plethora of information on the death penalty that ranged from racism related to the death penalty to why it was made illegal in 1972. Hopefully it will be of some to use to you if you choose to pursue this topic. Thanks for the post, it provides many people with information they need to know, but would have never known otherwise.