A recent article in Parade magazine looked at the cost of the death penalty, especially in light of the budgetary crises confronting most states in today’s economy. New Mexico and New Jersey recently abolished the death penalty, and costs played a significant role in their decisions. New Mexico State Rep. Gail Chasey (D., Albuquerque) noted, “We can put that money toward enhancing law enforcement, public works, you name it.” In New Jersey a commission found that using the alternative sentence of life without parole would save the state $1.3 million per inmate in incarceration costs alone because a death row facility requires more personnel to operate. Finally, a recent study in North Carolina found that the state could save at least $11 million a year by repealing the death penalty.
In 2009, 52 prisoners (out of the total 3,279 on death row across the country) were executed. “People tend to think, ‘Oh, you get the death penalty, then there’s an execution,’” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. “But more often than not, the death penalty turns out to be a very expensive form of life imprisonment.” Read full text below.
Debating the Cost of Capital Punishment
As cash-strapped states consider the high cost of sentencing prisoners to death, capital punishment has fallen on hard times.
In New Mexico, which voted to abolish the death penalty last year, State Rep. Gail Chasey (D., Albuquerque) specifically noted the tax dollars that would be saved. “We can put that money toward enhancing law enforcement, public works, you name it,” she said. In 2009, 10 other states considered ending capital punishment.
In New Jersey, which halted executions in 2007, a commission found that switching a single condemned inmate’s sentence to life without parole would save the state $1.3 million in incarceration costs alone, because death-row inmates receive special housing and security. Repealing the death penalty in North Carolina, where 169 prisoners are on death row, could save that state $11 million a year in incarceration costs and legal fees associated with the extensive appeals process, according to a study published in American Law and Economics Review in December.
Meanwhile, the number of death sentences carried out each year is dwindling. In 2009, just 52 prisoners — a fraction of the 3279 on death row — were executed. “People tend to think, ‘Oh, you get the death penalty, then there’s an execution,’” says Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. “But more often than not, the death penalty turns out to be a very expensive form of life imprisonment.”
Even steadfast supporters acknowledge the high price. “As it presently exists, the death penalty does cost more than life imprisonment,” says Kent Scheidegger of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento, Calif. “But is that an argument for its repeal or an argument to make it less costly?” Scheidegger notes that the death penalty may actually save money in capital cases where the defendant takes a plea deal to save his or her life. But ultimately, he says, the economic argument misses the point. “People value justice for its own sake, aside from issues of deterrence and economics,” he says. “Would you have Timothy McVeigh grinning at you from his jail cell his entire life the way Charles Manson has?”
(J. Bargmann, “Debating the Cost of Capital Punishment,” Parade Magazine, January 29, 2010 (on-line version; print version Jan. 31, 2010)). See also Costs and Recent Legislative Activity.
