As Support for Death Penalty Falls in Utah, New Study Again Says Life Without Parole Costs Less

An analysis by the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice of the cost of capital punishment has found that cases in which prosecutors seek the death penalty are more costly than cases in which life without parole was the maximum sentence. The Commission’s Death Penalty Working Group reviewed recent studies of death-penalty costs in Utah and across the country and found that, while there was disagreement about the magnitude of the cost difference, there was consensus that the death penalty was more expensive than non-capital alternatives. The two Utah studies included in the report were a 2012 analysis that estimated the death penalty added $1.6 million over the life of each case, compared to life without parole, and a 2017 study of the last 20 years that found that Utah spent about $40 million on 165 death-eligible cases, which resulted in just two death sentences. The report also reviewed recent public opinion data on the death penalty from polls administered both nationally and in Utah. Noting what it called “somewhat discrepant” results from recent Utah polls depending upon the questions respondents were asked, the report concluded “based on national data … and consistently lower support from younger respondents in the Utah polls” that “public support for the death penalty in Utah is declining over previous highs.” The working group also examined Utah’s aggravating circumstances, which make cases eligible for the death penalty, and the impact of the death penalty on victims’ familiy members (whom it called “covictims”), but did not draw any conclusions on either. The report did note that victims in non-capital cases have a greater opportunity to be heard because their non-testimonial statements to the court are not limited by the rules of evidence that apply to testimony in capital cases. It quoted the academic literature on the impact of capital prosecutions, saying that the assumption that the death penalty provides closure is “unproven … The process of dealing with murder and capital punishment is different for every covictim” and there is no guarantee that the death penalty will enhance recovery. While the commission did not make any policy recommendations based on its findings, Utah Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty said the report points to the need for a reconsideration of Utah’s death penalty. “This report should give pause to anyone who thought that because capital punishment is so rarely used in Utah that the cost of maintaining a death penalty would be negligible,” said Kevin Greene, the group’s director. “We have been spending tons of money without much in return and we hope lawmakers will closely examine the report and agree that the death penalty is anything but fiscally conservative.”

(Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice Subgroup Report: Death Penalty Working Group, Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, 2017; Jessica Miller, New study of Utah’s use of the death penalty suggests life without parole costs less, prompts another call to abolish capital punishment, Salt Lake Tribune, February 9, 2018; McKenzie Romero, Support for the death penalty waning in Utah, study says, Deseret News, February 9, 2018.) See Costs, Victims, and Public Opinion.