Costs

State Studies on Monetary Costs

2022

Ohio

Ohio AG Capital Crimes Annual Report (2022) cites the Ohio Legislative Service Commission’s state­ment that” A mix of quan­ti­ta­tive and qual­i­ta­tive stud­ies of oth­er states have found that the cost of a case in which a death penal­ty has been sought and imposed is high­er, per­haps sig­nif­i­cant­ly so, than a mur­der case in which life impris­on­ment has been imposed.” These stud­ies gen­er­al­ly sup­port the con­clu­sion that the total amount expend­ed in a cap­i­tal case is between two and a half and five times as much as a non­cap­i­tal case. The AG Report con­cludes that if these esti­mates apply to Ohio, then the extra cost of impos­ing the death penal­ty on the 128 inmates cur­rent­ly on death row might range between $128 mil­lion to $384 million.

2019

Wyoming

In 2019, the Wyoming State Legislature Legislative Services Office (LSO) assem­bled this Fiscal Report in response to the 2018 intro­duc­tion of death penal­ty abo­li­tion bill HB189. Based on infor­ma­tion pro­vid­ed by the state pub­lic defender’s office, the Wyoming Department of Corrections, and the Wyoming Supreme Court, the LSO esti­mat­ed that were the death penal­ty to be elim­i­nat­ed, the state would have saved $725,000 in each of fis­cal years 2019 and 2020 and $875,000 in fis­cal year 2021. The LSO also esti­mat­ed that $1,250,000 in addi­tion­al funds would be required over that bud­get­ed for fis­cal years 2019 – 2021 due to a cur­rent court ordered capital case.”

2018

Pennsylvania

The Joint State Government Commission of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Report of the Task Force and Advisory Committee, released June 2018, found “[t]here is a sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ence between the cost of the death penal­ty com­pared to life in prison with­out parole, pri­mar­i­ly because of more exten­sive lit­i­ga­tion and high­er cor­rec­tion­al cost for those sen­tenced to exe­cu­tion[.]” To try to assess whether there are sig­nif­i­cant­ly dif­fer­ent costs between these two penal­ties, researchers sent out sur­veys elec­tron­i­cal­ly to judges, pros­e­cu­tors, pub­lic defend­ers and vic­tim advo­cates in nine Pennsylvania judi­cial dis­tricts of vary­ing pop­u­la­tion sizes and case­loads that had past or cur­rent cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es. In its con­clu­sion, the Task Force cit­ed to a 2016 study of death penal­ty costs by The Reading Eagle (see below for more detail) which esti­mat­ed that $272,000,000 had been spent per exe­cu­tion in Pennsylvania since 1978. The Task Force also found that post-con­vic­tion cor­rec­tion­al costs were 47% high­er on aver­age in cap­i­tal cas­es than non-cap­i­tal cas­es, and that there is no evi­dence that guilty pleas for cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es off­set the extra costs incurred and oth­er resources con­sumed for cap­i­tal cas­es that do not result in a guilty plea.”

2017

Oklahoma
 

A 2017 inde­pen­dent study — An Analysis of the Economic Costs of Capital Punishment in Oklahoma — esti­mat­ed that an Oklahoma cap­i­tal case cost $110,000 more on aver­age than a non-cap­i­tal case.1

The study, pre­pared for the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission researched the costs of seek­ing and impos­ing the death penal­ty in Oklahoma, and found that seek­ing the death penal­ty in Oklahoma incurs sig­nif­i­cant­ly more time, effort, and costs on aver­age, as com­pared to when the death penal­ty is not sought in first degree mur­der cas­es.” The study deter­mined that Oklahoma cap­i­tal cas­es cost 3.2 times more than non-cap­i­tal cas­es on aver­age. Reviewing 15 state stud­ies of death-penal­ty costs con­duct­ed between 2000 and 2016, the study found that, across the coun­try, seek­ing the death penal­ty impos­es an aver­age of approx­i­mate­ly $700,000 more in costs than not seek­ing death. The researchers wrote that all of these stud­ies have found … that seek­ing and impos­ing the death penal­ty is more expen­sive than not seek­ing it.” The Oklahoma study also reviewed 184 first-degree mur­der cas­es from Oklahoma and Tulsa coun­ties in the years 2004 – 2010 and ana­lyzed costs incurred at the pre-tri­al, tri­al, sen­tenc­ing, and post-sen­tenc­ing (appeals and incar­cer­a­tion) stages. Oklahoma cap­i­tal appeal pro­ceed­ings cost between five-and-six times more than non-cap­i­tal appeals of first-degree mur­der con­vic­tions. The researchers said their results were con­sis­tent with all pre­vi­ous research on death-penal­ty costs, which have found that in com­par­ing sim­i­lar cas­es, seek­ing and impos­ing the death penal­ty is more expen­sive than not seek­ing it.” They con­clud­ed: It is a sim­ple fact that seek­ing the death penal­ty is more expen­sive. There is not one cred­i­ble study, to our knowl­edge, that presents evi­dence to the contrary.”

New Mexico

A 2017 Fiscal Impact Report pre­pared by the Legislative Finance Committee of the New Mexico leg­is­la­ture esti­mat­ed that bring­ing back the death penal­ty for three types of homi­cides in the state would cost as much as $7.2 mil­lion over the first three years.2

The report notes that “[b]etween 1979 and 2007 when the death penal­ty was an option to pros­e­cu­tors, there were over 200 death penal­ty cas­es filed, but only 15 men sen­tenced to death and only one exe­cu­tion.” The Law Offices of the Public Defender reports that the defense costs for the two New Mexico death-penal­ty cas­es that remain in the sys­tem fol­low­ing the prospec­tive repeal of the state’s death-penal­ty statute have been $607, 400 for one case and $1.3 mil­lion for the oth­er. The Fiscal Impact Report also con­tains a sur­vey of costs incurred by a num­ber of oth­er states in admin­is­ter­ing their death-penal­ty statutes.
 

2016

Oregon

A 2016 study by Lewis & Clark Law School and Seattle University found that 61 death sen­tences hand­ed down in Oregon cost tax­pay­ers an aver­age of $2.3 mil­lion, includ­ing incar­cer­a­tion costs, while 313 aggra­vat­ed mur­der cas­es cost an aver­age of $1.4 mil­lion.3

The study, which exam­ined the costs of hun­dreds of mur­der and aggra­vat­ed mur­der cas­es in Oregon, con­clud­ed that main­tain­ing the death penal­ty incurs a sig­nif­i­cant finan­cial bur­den on Oregon tax­pay­ers.” The researchers found that the aver­age tri­al and incar­cer­a­tion costs of an Oregon mur­der case that results in a death sen­tence are almost dou­ble those in a mur­der case that results in a sen­tence of life impris­on­ment or a term of years. Excluding state prison costs, the study found, cas­es that result in death sen­tences may be three-to-four times more expen­sive. Excluding state prison costs, the dif­fer­ence was even more stark: $1.1 mil­lion for death sen­tences vs. $315,159 for oth­er non-cap­i­tal cas­es. The study also found that death-penal­ty case costs have esca­lat­ed over time, from $274,209 in the 1980s to $1,783,148 in the 2000s. The study exam­ined cost data from local jails, the Oregon Department of Corrections, the Office of Public Defense Services, and the Department of Justice, each of which pro­vid­ed infor­ma­tion on appeals costs. Prosecution costs were not includ­ed because the District Attorney’s Office bud­gets were not bro­ken down by time spent on each case. Among the rea­sons cit­ed for the high­er cost in death-penal­ty cas­es were the require­ment for appoint­ment of death-qual­i­fied defense lawyers, more pre- and post-tri­al fil­ings by both pros­e­cu­tors and the defense, length­i­er and more com­pli­cat­ed jury-selec­tion prac­tices, the two-phase tri­al, and more exten­sive appeals once a death sen­tence had been imposed. Professor Aliza Kaplan, one of the authors of the study, said, The deci­sion mak­ers, those involved in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem, every­one, deserves to know how much we are cur­rent­ly spend­ing on the death penal­ty, so that when stake­hold­ers, cit­i­zens and pol­i­cy-mak­ers make these deci­sions, they have as much infor­ma­tion as pos­si­ble to decide what is best for Oregon.” Oregon has car­ried out only two exe­cu­tions since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed, both of pris­on­ers who waived their appeals. The state cur­rent­ly has a mora­to­ri­um on executions.

Nebraska

A 2016 study of the costs of Nebraska’s death penal­ty by Dr. Ernest Goss, a Creighton University eco­nom­ics pro­fes­sor who found­ed the con­ser­v­a­tive think tank, Goss & Associates, found that the state spends $14.6 mil­lion per year to main­tain its cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem.4

The study The Economic Impact of the Death Penalty on the State of Nebraska: A Taxpayer Burden?” esti­mat­ed that each death-penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion cost Nebraska’s tax­pay­ers about $1.5 mil­lion more than a life-with­out-parole pros­e­cu­tion. Conducting a meta-analy­sis of cost stud­ies con­duct­ed across the coun­try, Dr. Goss esti­mat­ed that the death penal­ty costs states with cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment an aver­age of $23.2 mil­lion more per year than those with alter­na­tive sen­tenc­ing. The study found that states with the death penal­ty spend about 3.54% of their over­all state bud­gets on courts, cor­rec­tions, and oth­er crim­i­nal-jus­tice func­tions asso­ci­at­ed with the death penal­ty, while states with­out the death penal­ty spend about 2.93% on those func­tions. 1,842 homi­cides were com­mit­ted in Nebraska between 1973 and 2014, with pros­e­cu­tors seek­ing death 119 times and obtain­ing 33 death sen­tences. Of those sen­tenced to death, the study found that 13 had their sen­tences reduced, six died in prison, three were exe­cut­ed, one sen­tence was vacat­ed, and ten are still appeal­ing their sen­tences. The study was com­mis­sioned by Retain a Just Nebraska, an orga­ni­za­tion advo­cat­ing for Nebraskans to vote to retain the Nebraska leg­is­la­ture repeal of the state’s death penal­ty in the November 2016 election.

Pennsylvania

In a 2016 arti­cle, The Reading Eagle used data from a 2008 study by the Urban Institute to show that Pennsylvania has spent an esti­mat­ed $272 mil­lion per exe­cu­tion since the Commonwealth rein­stat­ed its death penal­ty in 1978.5

According to the arti­cle, the Eagle cal­cu­lat­ed that cost of sen­tenc­ing 408 peo­ple to death was an esti­mat­ed $816 mil­lion high­er than the cost of life with­out parole. The esti­mate is con­ser­v­a­tive, the paper says, because it assumes only one cap­i­tal tri­al for each defen­dant and it does not include the cost of cas­es in which the death penal­ty was sought but not imposed. An ear­li­er inves­ti­ga­tion had esti­mat­ed a cost of at least $350 mil­lion, based on the 185 pris­on­ers who were on death row as of 2014, but addi­tion­al research into the cas­es that had already been over­turned, or in which pris­on­ers died or were exe­cut­ed pri­or to 2014, revealed a total of 408 peo­ple who had been sen­tenced to death.
 

2015

Indiana

Two 2015 state analy­ses of the costs of the death penal­ty in Indiana found that the out-of-pock­et expen­di­tures asso­ci­at­ed with death-penal­ty cas­es were sig­nif­i­cant­ly more expen­sive than cas­es for which pros­e­cut­ing attor­neys request­ed either life with­out parole or a term of years.”

The first analy­sis—pre­pared by the Legislative Services Agency for the General Assembly on April 13, 2015, as a cost assess­ment for a bill that would make more cas­es eli­gi­ble for the death penal­ty — found that the aver­age cost of a cap­i­tal-mur­der case tried before a jury was $789,581, more than 4.25 times greater than the aver­age cost of a mur­der case tried to a jury in which the pros­e­cu­tion sought life with­out parole ($185,422). The analy­sis also found that a death-penal­ty case resolved by guilty plea still cost more than 2.33 times as much ($433,702) as a life-with­out-parole case tried to a jury.

A sec­ond analy­sis—pre­pared on May 4, 2015, in con­nec­tion with a bill to add anoth­er aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stance to the state’s death-penal­ty statute — found that the state share of out-of-pock­et expen­di­tures for death-penal­ty cas­es tried to a jury ($420,234) was 2.77 times greater than its share of expen­di­tures in life-with­out-parole case tried to a jury ($151,890). It also found that death-penal­ty cas­es tried to a jury costs coun­ties an aver­age of $369,347 in out-of-pock­et expen­di­tures, 11 times more than the aver­age coun­ty expen­di­ture for a life-with­out-parole case tried to a jury ($33,532). The assess­ment found that death-penal­ty cas­es resolved by a plea agree­ment are still sig­nif­i­cant­ly more expen­sive than non-cap­i­tal cas­es that go to tri­al. The $148,513 aver­age expen­di­ture coun­ties paid for cap­i­tal cas­es that were resolved by plea was 4.43 times more than their aver­age expen­di­ture for a life-with­out-parole case tried to a jury.

Washington

A 2015 Seattle University study exam­in­ing the costs of the death penal­ty in Washington found that each death penal­ty case cost an aver­age of $1 mil­lion more than a sim­i­lar case where the death penal­ty was not sought.6

The study found defense costs were about three times as high in death-penal­ty cas­es and pros­e­cu­tion costs were as much as four times high­er than for non-death penal­ty cas­es. Criminal Justice Professor Peter Collins, the lead author of the study, said, What this pro­vides is evi­dence of the costs of death-penal­ty cas­es, empir­i­cal evi­dence. We went into it [the study] want­i­ng to remain objec­tive. This is pure­ly about the eco­nom­ics; whether or not it’s worth the invest­ment is up to the pub­lic, the vot­ers of Washington and the peo­ple we elect­ed.” (Although Washington’s death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1981, the study exam­ined cas­es from 1997 onwards. Using only cas­es in the study, the gross bill to tax­pay­ers for the death penal­ty will be about $120 mil­lion. Washington has car­ried out five exe­cu­tions since rein­state­ment, imply­ing a cost of $24 mil­lion per exe­cu­tion. In three of those five cas­es, the inmate waived parts of his appeals, thus reduc­ing costs.) The study was not able to include the like­ly high­er year­ly incar­cer­a­tion costs for death row inmates ver­sus those not on death row.

2014

Nevada

In 2014, the Nevada Legislative Auditor esti­mat­ed the cost of a mur­der tri­al in which the death penal­ty was sought cost $1.03 to $1.3 mil­lion, where­as cas­es with­out the death penal­ty cost $775,000.7

The study, com­mis­sioned by the Nevada leg­is­la­ture, found that the aver­age death penal­ty case costs a half mil­lion dol­lars more than a case in which the death penal­ty is not sought. The audi­tor sum­ma­rized the study’s find­ings, say­ing, Adjudicating death-penal­ty cas­es takes more time and resources com­pared to mur­der cas­es where the death-penal­ty sen­tence is not pur­sued as an option. These cas­es are more cost­ly because there are pro­ce­dur­al safe­guards in place to ensure the sen­tence is just and free from error.” The study not­ed that the extra costs of a death-penal­ty tri­al were still incurred even in cas­es where a jury chose a less­er sen­tence, with those cas­es cost­ing $1.2 mil­lion. The study was based on a sam­ple of Nevada mur­der cas­es and include the costs of incar­cer­a­tion. Because cer­tain court and pros­e­cu­tion costs could not be obtained, the authors said the costs were, under­stat­ed,” and may be high­er than the estimates given.

Kansas

A 2014 Kansas Judicial Council study exam­in­ing 34 poten­tial death-penal­ty cas­es from 2004 – 2011 found that defense costs for death penal­ty tri­als aver­aged $395,762 per case, com­pared to $98,963 per case when the death penal­ty was not sought.8

According to the study, defend­ing a death-penal­ty case costs about four times as much as defend­ing a case where the death-penal­ty is not sought. Costs incurred by the tri­al court showed a sim­i­lar dis­par­i­ty: $72,530 for cas­es with the death penal­ty; $21,554 for those with­out. Even in cas­es that end­ed in a guilty plea and did not go to tri­al, cas­es where the death penal­ty was sought incurred about twice the costs for both defense ($130,595 v. $64,711) and courts ($16,263 v. $7,384), com­pared to cas­es where death was not sought. The time spent on death cas­es was also much high­er. Jury tri­als aver­aged 40.13 days in cas­es where the death penal­ty was being sought, but only 16.79 days when it was not an option. Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court assigned to write opin­ions esti­mat­ed they spent 20 times more hours on death-penal­ty appeals than on non-death appeals. The Department of Corrections said hous­ing pris­on­ers on death row cost more than twice as much per year ($49,380) as for pris­on­ers in the gen­er­al pop­u­la­tion ($24,690).
 

2012

Nevada

A 2012 study, con­duct­ed by Dr. Terance Miethe of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas con­clud­ed that the 80 pend­ing cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es in Clark County, Nevada would cost approx­i­mate­ly $15 mil­lion more than if they were pros­e­cut­ed with­out seek­ing the death penal­ty.9

The study showed defense of the aver­age cap­i­tal mur­der case in Clark County cost $229,800 for a Public Defender or $287,250 for appoint­ed coun­sel. The addi­tion­al cost of cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es was $170,000 to $212,000 per case com­pared to the cost of a non-cap­i­tal mur­der case in the same coun­ty. The study did not include the costs of pros­e­cu­tion or all appel­late expens­es. The author not­ed: It is impor­tant to note that this sta­tis­ti­cal extrap­o­la­tion does not cov­er the full array of time spent in cap­i­tal cas­es by oth­er court offi­cials (e.g. judges, pros­e­cu­tors, jurors), staff and admin­is­tra­tive per­son­nel, mit­i­ga­tion spe­cial­ists, inves­ti­ga­tors, and expert wit­ness­es. It also does not take into account the addi­tion­al costs of cap­i­tal lit­i­ga­tion that are asso­ci­at­ed with state/​federal appeals and the extra costs of impris­on­ment of death-eli­gi­ble inmates pend­ing tri­al and sentencing.

The study’s findings include:

  • Clark County pub­lic defense attor­neys spent an aver­age of 2,298 hours on a cap­i­tal mur­der case com­pared to an aver­age of 1,087 hours on a non-cap­i­tal mur­der case – a dif­fer­ence of 1,211 hours, or 112%.
  • Defending the aver­age cap­i­tal mur­der case in Clark County cost $229,800 for a Public Defender or $287,250 for appoint­ed coun­sel. The addi­tion­al cost of cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es was $170,000 to $212,000 per case com­pared to the cost of a non-cap­i­tal mur­der case in the same county.
  • The 80 pend­ing cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es in Clark County will cost approx­i­mate­ly $15 mil­lion more than if they were pros­e­cut­ed with­out seek­ing the death penalty.
  • Clark County cas­es that result­ed in a death sen­tence that con­clud­ed between 2009 and 2011 took an aver­age of 1,107 days, or just over 3 years, to go from ini­tial fil­ing to sen­tenc­ing. In con­trast, cas­es that result­ed in life with­out parole took an aver­age of 887 days (2.4 years) to go from ini­tial fil­ing to sentencing.
  • Of the 35 com­plet­ed cas­es in Clark County from 2009 to 2011 where a Notice of Intent to seek the death penal­ty was filed, 69% result­ed in a life sen­tence. Nearly half (49%) ulti­mate­ly result­ed in a sen­tence of life with­out parole, and the next most com­mon dis­po­si­tion was a sen­tence of life with parole (20%). Only 5 of the 35 cas­es (14%) result­ed in a death sentence.

2011

California

A 2011 assess­ment of costs by Judge Arthur Alarcon and Prof. Paula Mitchell, updat­ed in 2012 revealed that, since 1978, California’s cur­rent sys­tem has cost the state’s tax­pay­ers $4 bil­lion more than a sys­tem that has life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole (‘LWOP’) as its most severe penalty.

According to the assess­ment, the death penal­ty cost California $1.94 bil­lion in addi­tion­al pre-tri­al and tri­al costs from 1978 – 2011. The post-tri­al costs were almost as high- $925 mil­lion for auto­mat­ic appeals and state habeas cor­pus peti­tions, and $775 mil­lion for fed­er­al habeas cor­pus appeals. Incarceration of death row inmates was also a sig­nif­i­cant fac­tor, the adjust­ment cen­ter” of California’s death row at San Quentin State Penitentiary cost an addi­tion­al $1 bil­lion. The authors cal­cu­lat­ed that, if the Governor com­mut­ed the sen­tences of those remain­ing on death row to life with­out parole, it would result in an imme­di­ate sav­ings of $170 mil­lion per year, with a sav­ings of $5 bil­lion over the next 20 years.

See DPIC’s Summary of the 2011 California Cost Study.

2010

Federal Death Penalty

A 2010 report to the Committee on Defender Services Judicial Conference of the United States

The aver­age cost of defend­ing a tri­al in a fed­er­al death case is $620,932, about 8 times that of a fed­er­al mur­der case in which the death penal­ty is not sought. A study found that those defen­dants whose rep­re­sen­ta­tion was the least expen­sive, and thus who received the least amount of attor­ney and expert time, had an increased prob­a­bil­i­ty of receiv­ing a death sentence.

Indiana

A 2010 state analy­sis of the costs of the death penal­ty in Indiana

The aver­age cost to a coun­ty for a tri­al and direct appeal in a cap­i­tal case was more than ten times more than a life-with­out-parole case. The total cost of Indiana’s death penal­ty is 38% greater than the total cost of life with­out parole sentences.

2009

North Carolina

A 2009 study pub­lished by a Duke University econ­o­mist revealed North Carolina could save $11 mil­lion annu­al­ly if it dropped the death penal­ty.10

The study, by Philip J. Cook, a pro­fes­sor at the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy, cal­cu­lat­ed the extra state costs of the death penal­ty dur­ing fis­cal years 2005 and 2006. He cal­cu­lat­ed over $21 mil­lion worth of expens­es that would have been saved if the death penal­ty had been repealed. The total includ­ed extra defense costs for cap­i­tal cas­es in the tri­al phase, extra pay­ments to jurors, post-con­vic­tion costs, resen­tenc­ing hear­ings, and the extra costs to the prison sys­tem. This con­ser­v­a­tive esti­mate did not include resources that would have been freed up in the Office of the Appellate Defender and the North Carolina Supreme Court, the extra time spent by pros­e­cu­tors in cap­i­tal cas­es, and the costs to tax­pay­ers for fed­er­al appeals. Cook con­clud­ed that costs are not the only con­cern, but rel­e­vant to the dis­cus­sion of whether the death penal­ty should be retained, It’s not an ide­al use of resources to have so much time devot­ed to such a small num­ber of cas­es if your goal is to reduce crime rates.”

2008

Maryland

A 2008 study released by the Urban Institute fore­cast that the life­time cost to tax­pay­ers for the five cap­i­tal­ly-pros­e­cut­ed cas­es in Maryland since 1978 will be $186 mil­lion.11

The study esti­mates that the aver­age cost to Maryland tax­pay­ers for reach­ing a sin­gle death sen­tence is $3 mil­lion — $1.9 mil­lion more than the cost of a non-death penal­ty case. (This includes inves­ti­ga­tion, tri­al, appeals, and incar­cer­a­tion costs.) The study exam­ined 162 cap­i­tal cas­es that were pros­e­cut­ed between 1978 and 1999 and found that those cas­es will cost $186 mil­lion more than what those cas­es would have cost had the death penal­ty not exist­ed as a pun­ish­ment. At every phase of a case, accord­ing to the study, cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es cost more than non-cap­i­tal mur­der cases.Of the 162 cap­i­tal cas­es, there were 106 cas­es in which a death sen­tence was sought but not hand­ed down in Maryland. Those cas­es cost the state an addi­tion­al $71 mil­lion com­pared to the cost non-death penal­ty cas­es. Those costs were incurred sim­ply to seek the death penal­ty where the ulti­mate out­come was a life or long-term prison sentence.

California

A 2008 report of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice

The addi­tion­al cost of con­fin­ing an inmate to death row, as com­pared to the max­i­mum secu­ri­ty pris­ons where those sen­tenced to life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole ordi­nar­i­ly serve their sen­tences, is $90,000 per year per inmate. With California’s cur­rent death row pop­u­la­tion of 670, that accounts for $63.3 mil­lion annu­al­ly.”
 

2006

Washington

A 2006 report to Washington State Bar Association

At the tri­al lev­el, death-penal­ty cas­es are esti­mat­ed to gen­er­ate rough­ly $470,000 in addi­tion­al costs to the pros­e­cu­tion and defense over the cost of try­ing the same case as an aggra­vat­ed mur­der with­out the death penal­ty and costs of $47,000 to $70,000 for court personnel.

2005

California

A 2005 arti­cle from The Los Angeles Times

According to state and fed­er­al records, main­tain­ing the California death-penal­ty sys­tem costs tax­pay­ers more than $114 mil­lion a year beyond the cost of sim­ply keep­ing the con­victs locked up for life.

2004

California

A 2004 arti­cle from The New York Times

California spends $90 Million dol­lars annu­al­ly above the ordi­nary costs of the jus­tice sys­tem on cap­i­tal cas­es. $78 mil­lion of that total is incurred at the trial level.

Tennessee

A 2004 Report from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Office of Research

A report released by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury found that death-penal­ty tri­als cost an aver­age of 48% more than the aver­age cost of tri­als in which pros­e­cu­tors seek life imprisonment.

2001

County-Wide

A 2001 Report from the National Bureau of Economic Research

Capital cas­es bur­den coun­ty bud­gets with large unex­pect­ed costs, accord­ing to a report released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, The Budgetary Repercussions of Capital Convictions,” by Katherine Baicker. Counties man­age these high costs by decreas­ing fund­ing for high­ways and police and by increas­ing tax­es. The report esti­mates that between 1982 – 1997 the extra cost of cap­i­tal tri­als was $1.6 billion.

2000

Florida

A 2000 arti­cle by The Palm Beach Post

Florida would save $51 mil­lion each year by pun­ish­ing all first-degree mur­der­ers with life in prison with­out parole, accord­ing to esti­mates by the Palm Beach Post. Based on the 44 exe­cu­tions Florida has car­ried out since 1976, that amounts to an approx­i­mate cost of $24 mil­lion for each execution.