---
title: "Costs and Geography Contribute to Death Penalty's Arbitrariness"
description: 'The death penalty is rarely sought in the city of Baltimore, but in adjoining Baltimore County almost every eligible case becomes a capital case.'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-and-geography-contribute-to-death-penaltys-arbitrariness'
section: news
date: '2006-09-05T16:22:00-04:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:24:25-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

The death penalty is rarely sought in the city of Baltimore, but in adjoining Baltimore County almost every eligible case becomes a capital case. Presently, there are 7 active death-penalty cases in Baltimore County, more than the city of Baltimore has had overall in the past 2 decades. In addition to the different philosophies of the respective State's Attorneys, the costs of the death penalty are a significant factor. Prosecutors estimate that a death penalty case costs taxpayers $500,000, just for the trial and penalty phases. Donald Giblin, one of Baltimore's prosecutors, noted: **"I don't have a moral problem with the death penalty; I have a resource problem with it."**

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy also noted that the years of appeals in a capital case leave the victims' family with constant uncertainty. **"Most of the time,"** she said, **"the death penalty doesn't give you closure."**  By taking the death penalty off the table in a prospective case, she says she can offer some degree of finality to the victims' family by utilizing the sentence of life without parole.

(Baltimore Sun, Sept. 3, 2006).

See [**Costs**](/costs-death-penalty?did=108&scid=7), [**Arbitrariness**](/arbitrariness?did=1328), and [**Life witout parole**](/life-without-parole?did=555&scid=59).