Death penalty costly in dollars and in ethics


Cal Brown’s reprieve from death row two weeks ago presents an 
opportunity to re-evaluate the value of the death penalty in 
Washington State. We can understand a desire for justice to be 
served, but on balance, capital punishment does not deliver.
States around the country are examining the death penalty with an eye 
toward the budget. The costs in death penalty cases are often borne 
entirely by the state. Taxpayers pay for the prosecution, for the 
public defenders and for the court system.
The Washington Bar Association released a study in 2007 concluding 
that while the costs are difficult to quantify, death penalty cases 
cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars more than trying the 
same case without the death penalty.
The study noted that the reduction in cost would allow prosecutors to 
work on other cases. It would also allow county and state funds spent 
on defense to be used for other services. In Colorado, for example, 
there’s a bill that would take the money spent on death penalty cases 
and use it to help resolve cold cases.
Studies in Kansas, Tennessee, Maryland, New Mexico and California 
show that death penalty cases cost significantly more than comparable 
non-death penalty cases. California’s study found that the current 
system costs taxpayers $137 million per year, where a system without 
a death penalty would cost $11.5 million a year. Maryland found death 
penalty cases three times more costly.
Some in favor of the death penalty say it gives the victims closure. 
Cal Brown committed his crime in 1991 and was sentenced in 1994. Had 
he been sentenced to life without parole, the case would have been 
over 14 years ago. That would have been closure.
We believe the law authorizing the death penalty should be revisited 
at least every decade — beginning now.

http://snovalleystar.com/2009/04/01/death-penalty-costly-in-dollars-
and-in-ethics