A recent report issued by the Kansas Judicial Council Death Penalty Advisory Committee exam­ines the state’s appli­ca­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and the hefty price tag of seek­ing the death penal­ty. The Committee found that since Kansas rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1994 there were 44 poten­tial cap­i­tal cas­es involv­ing minor­i­ty vic­tims. However, none of these cas­es result­ed in a death sen­tence. Of the eight defen­dants in Kansas who did receive death sen­tences, all of their vic­tims were white. Of those eight cas­es, six orig­i­nat­ed in Sedgwick County and only two cas­es were from the entire rest of the state.

This dis­par­i­ty may be par­tial­ly due to the high costs asso­ci­at­ed with cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The report not­ed that the cost of pros­e­cut­ing a death penal­ty case is gen­er­al­ly quite high because each side is more like­ly to employ cost­ly expert wit­ness­es and sub­se­quent appeals are finan­cial­ly drain­ing. The Committee con­clud­ed that larg­er and more pop­u­lous coun­ties in Kansas — such as Sedgwick County — can more read­i­ly absorb the cost of death penal­ty lit­i­ga­tion because of a larg­er tax base.

In addi­tion to the issues of race, costs, and geo­graph­ic dis­par­i­ty, the pan­el also exam­ined issues such as inno­cence, deter­rence, and the state’s abil­i­ty to meet the needs of all mur­der vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers. (Report of the Kansas Judicial Council Death Penalty Advisory Committee on Certain Issues Related to the Death Penalty, November 2004) Read the Report. See also, Race and Costs.

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