Financial Costs Associated With Capital Punishment

Capital punishment derives its name from the Latin adjective "capitalis," which means "of the head."

Capital punishment has remained a hotly debated topic among legislators, voters and humanitarian groups for many reasons. Though most objections arise from concern about the moral nature of execution, another common argument against the death penalty is its high cost of administration. Executions in and of themselves are not usually expensive, but other costs are often incurred when a person is sentenced to death.

Initial Trial Costs

Trial proceedings for a case involving the death penalty generally take longer than proceedings for other criminal trials.

Carrying out the death penalty in the U.S. can be more expensive than seeking a life sentence because of Supreme Court requirements. Because all potential jurors must be questioned about their views on the capital punishment, there are extra costs associated with paying two prosecutors, two defense lawyers, a judge and other court staff. In a murder trial in which a capital sentence is not being pursued, jury selection usually takes a couple of days. Jury selection in death penalty cases takes much longer.

Extended Sentencing Phase

Expert testimony is often permitted to determine the nature of the defendant's sentence in a death penalty trial, which makes the sentencing phase last longer.

Defendants are usually allowed to provide expert testimony when they might be sentenced to death. In some cases a psychologist or a lineup of character witnesses can be called in to testify to determine if there were any mitigating circumstances or factors that might allow the defendant to incur a lesser sentence. This adds to the cost.

Lengthy Appeals Process

The expenses associated with lengthy appeal procedures are greater than those incurred when defending against a life-imprisonment sentence.

Greater effort will be expended to appeal a sentence of death, so further legal costs are generated in death penalty cases. A recent study conducted by the Urban Institute concluded that because of appeals, it costs as much as $1.9 million more for a state prosecutor to achieve and defend a death sentence than it does to put a person in prison in the state of Maryland. The appeals process for the average Death Row inmate lasts 15 to 20 years.

Increased Security and Maintenance

Keeping an inmate on Death Row usually costs more because it requires that each prisoner be kept apart from the general population.

Because a Death Row inmate must be incarcerated during the entirety of his or her appeals process, the base cost of keeping a prisoner facing the death penalty jailed is increased. Since those on Death Row are often thought to be at greater risk for harming themselves or others, they are usually housed separately from the general prison population.

Diverted Resources

Some legislators and criminal justice professionals believe that the resources spent on capital punishment would be better spent on increasing other enforcement measures.

Because enforcement of the death penalty requires a vast amount of financial resources, many cash-strapped governments have decided that further money spent on the death penalty would cause other law enforcement measures to suffer.

References

• DallasNews.com; What Makes the Death Penalty So Expensive?; Michael Landauer; August 2009
• Amnesty International USA: Death Penalty Cost
• KVAL.com; How Much Does Death Row Cost?; David Walker; March 2011

Resources

• Columbia Law School; Capital Punishment: Deterrent Effects & Capital Costs; Jeffrey A. Fagan
• "New York Times"; High Cost of Death Row; September 2009
• "New York Times"; Citing Cost, States Consider End to Death Penalty; Ian Urbina; February 2009