A bill estab­lish­ing the sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out parole in cap­i­tal cas­es has been sent to Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for sig­na­ture into law. The state leg­is­la­ture passed the bipar­ti­san mea­sure in an attempt to curb costs asso­ci­at­ed with the death penal­ty. A leg­isla­tive audit released in December 2003 found that the aver­age cost of a death penal­ty case in Kansas is $1.2 mil­lion. An advi­so­ry group of judges and attor­neys who stud­ied the state’s death penal­ty law last year con­clud­ed that a life-with­out-parole sen­tence could save the state between $400,000 and $500,000 per tri­al. Of the 38 states that have the death penal­ty, 35 have an alter­na­tive sen­tence of life with­out parole at least for some offens­es. The excep­tions are Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas. (Associated Press, April 1, 2004) See Life Without Parole. See also, Costs.

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