Judge Sheila Murphy (retired) of Cook County, Illinois, recent­ly tes­ti­fied before the Committee on Criminal Law of the Chicago Bar Association, not­ing her con­cerns about the costs of the death penal­ty. ​“We’re in just ter­ri­ble eco­nom­ic times,” Judge Murphy said. ​“The state of Illinois is in deep trou­ble, and we should not be squan­der­ing mon­ey on the death penal­ty when there’s such great need – not just with vic­tims but with the elder­ly, with chil­dren, for health care, and for edu­ca­tion.” Judge Murphy cit­ed stud­ies that have shown the cost of sen­tenc­ing some­one to death was much more than a sen­tence of life in prison with­out parole due to the costs of pros­e­cu­tion, appeals, and legal defense. In addi­tion, the city of Chicago and the State of Illinois are pay­ing the extra costs of mul­ti-mil­lion dol­lar pay­outs for wrong­ful death sen­tences, such as the $7.5 mil­lion pay­ment to exon­er­at­ed death row inmate Madison Hobley. 

The Criminal Law Committee unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty in Illinois, in part because of the increased costs of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment over life in prison and the risks of exe­cut­ing an innocent person.

(B. Roberts, ​“Death Penalty’s Expensive, Lawyers Recommend Ending It,” WBBM News, January 14, 2009). See New Voices and Costs.

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