The Economics of The Death Penalty

It costs far more to execute someone, wasting millions of dollars that could be more effectively used to prevent crime.

This may seem counter-intuitive, but it is actually much more expensive to seek and carry out a death sentence than it would be to house a defendant in prison for the rest of his natural life. There are three reasons: 1) A capital trial is much longer than a murder trial in which the death penalty is not sought; 2) is it necessary to afford capital defendants with extraordinary legal assistance through trial and many stages of appeals; and 3) most death penalty prosecutions eventually result in life sentences anyway, after most of the expense is incurred. Millions of dollars are spent prosecuting capital cases that would be saved and could be much more profitably used for effective crime-prevention, drug treatment, or victim's services programs.

* Average costs of a death penalty case in the United States is 2 million dollars.
* Average costs of a non-death penalty case in the United States is $750,000.00.

-The death penalty is economically, stupid.

How can one say they wish to cut spending and save money, but then turn around and say, "oh yeah the death penalty is a good idea."

Jail for life saves as opposed to the DP saves $1,250,000.