A recent editorial in The Birmingham News criticized the costly and unfair nature of Alabama’s capital punishment system. It also called on state legislators to, at a minimum, take steps that would limit the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty. The newspaper, which recently wrote a series of editorials changing its long-standing support for capital punishment and calling on the state to abandon the use of the death penalty, noted:

More varieties of murder qualify for the death penalty in Alabama than in most states, and some prosecutors charge every crime that qualifies as a capital crime.

That may sound like a good thing - a way to really crack down on violent crime and stick it to criminals. But the people who are really getting stuck are Alabama taxpayers.

That’s because capital cases cost more than those that don’t have a chance of ending in the death penalty, as demonstrated in a story on Sunday in The News.

In fiscal 2005, the state’s bill for capital defense was on average $20,416 - a small sum, really, but almost 16 times as much as the $1,300 average indigent defense in class-A felony cases. Why? When a defendant’s life is at stake, the law requires two defense lawyers, an investigator and a specialist to look for mitigating factors that could make life without parole a more appropriate sentence than death.

The additional expenses are entirely justified, but the numbers add up: Since 2000, Alabama taxpayers have paid more than $14 million to defend people charged with capital murder.

Prosecutors say they’re paid the same whether they’re pursuing death penalty cases or not. But they don’t dispute that death penalty cases usually take more of their time. That means they invest more of their office resources in capital cases than in noncapital cases.

But do the time and money translate to more death sentences? No.

Since 1990, 1,965 capital murder indictments have been brought and resolved in Alabama. Of the total cases, only 33% ended with a capital conviction and only 11% ended with a death sentence. In Jefferson County, the percentages are even worse. Of 716 resolved capital cases, just 25% ended with conviction and only 5% a death sentence.

Translation: Taxpayers are spending tremendous sums of money on capital cases that judges and juries do not believe merit death sentences.

Granted, Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber makes a valid case for bringing capital charges if the crime fits any of the death-penalty criteria. Prosecutors who pick and choose which crimes are worthy of death have been accused of (and have been guilty of) making arbitrary and unfair distinctions.

The problem is, Alabama’s death penalty law also makes arbitrary and unfair distinctions. In one of the silliest provisions, simply shooting someone in a car or from a car is a capital crime. Shooting the same person on the street is not.

Of course, The News editorial board believes the state should abolish capital punishment altogether because of our views on the sanctity of life and our concerns that Alabama’s death penalty is not foolproof or fair. But even those who endorse capital punishment have an interest in making sure the system is as cost-effective and rational as possible.

The Legislature could help by trimming the list of murders that qualify for a death sentence. A broader, uniform process to decide when prosecutors can pursue a capital charge would also help.

If the state is going to have a death penalty, at the very least it should be reasonably applied. To do otherwise is not only unfair - it’s expensive.

(The Birmingham News, December 7, 2005) See Editorials, Arbitrariness and Costs. Read excerpts from The Birmingham News editorials calling on Alabama to abandon the death penalty.