An update of a study by the ACLU of Northern California on the costs of the death penal­ty found addi­tion­al expens­es due to a net increase in the size of death row. The analy­sis found, ​“The 11 new addi­tions to death row add almost $1 mil­lion to the annu­al cost of hous­ing peo­ple on death row, now total­ing $61.2 mil­lion more each year than the cost of hous­ing in the gen­er­al pop­u­la­tion. … The recent­ly approved state bud­get also includes $136 mil­lion in funds to begin con­struc­tion of a new death row facil­i­ty, a project that will cost more than $400 mil­lion to com­plete.” The state has been fac­ing the largest deficit of any state in the coun­try and has had to cut numer­ous other programs. 

Highlighting the arbri­trary nature of the death penal­ty in the state, the ACLU found that out of California’s 58 coun­ties, ​“only 10 coun­ties account­ed for near­ly 83% of death sen­tences for 2000 to 2007,” and 30 coun­ties had not had a sin­gle death sen­tence since 2000. The full report may be found here.

(“The Hidden Death Tax: The Secret Cost of Seeking Execution in California and Death by Geography: A County By County Analysis of the Road to Execution in California,” American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, March 2009). See Studies and Costs.

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