On Dec. 1, 2010, the New Hampshire Death Penalty Study Commission released its report to the gov­er­nor. The major­i­ty (12 – 10) report rec­om­mend­ed nei­ther the abo­li­tion nor the expan­sion of the death penal­ty. The report did find that there is an added cost for the death penal­ty as com­pared to a life with­out parole sen­tence: ​“There is a sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ence in the cost of pros­e­cu­tion and incar­cer­a­tion of a first degree mur­der case where the penal­ty is life with­out parole as com­pared with the cost of a death penal­ty case from pros­e­cu­tion to exe­cu­tion. The Commission mem­bers believe that the greater cost asso­ci­at­ed with cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es is essen­tial to guar­an­tee a vig­or­ous defense, a thor­ough inves­ti­ga­tion and pros­e­cu­tion of the case, and care­ful adju­di­ca­tion of the case.” Read the full report here.

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