Why It's Wrong.....
Picture Credited to taxbrackets.org
The death penalty is utilized because many people believe that it creates the most justice at the cheapest price available. Multiple reasons exist for why the death penalty is wrong. The first reason would be the cost. While not everybody is affected directly by capital punishment, we are all responsible for paying taxes which funds it. Conventional wisdom might lead one to think that capital punishment is much cheaper than housing a prisoner for life. In most people's heads, it does make since. Would it not be cheaper to execute someone instead of paying for them to eat and live until they pass away naturally? Well, this is one case when common sense leads us wrong.
Why is the death penalty so expensive? In the court of law, if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you free of charge. This costs the government money. What founds the government? Our tax dollars. The pretrial is also very expensive. Capital cases are far more complicated than non-capital cases. Experts in most cases will be called in to investigate forensic evidence, mental health and the social history of the defendant (Cost of the Death Penalty). Again, these costs are paid for by tax payer dollars which everybody pays for. Instead of these dollars going towards improving society, they are being used in a long drawn out process that is capital punishment.
Jury selection is another expensive process. The fact that a human's life is on the line requires an extensive selection process. The trial is the next step in the process which is extremely expensive. An average death penalty case lasts on average four times longer than a non-death penalty case (Cost of the Death Penalty). The longer the trial, the higher the expenses are. The longer the trial is, the longer it takes for the victim's loved ones to achieve justice. The longer that goes on, the longer the suffering lasts.
Capital punishment is also so expensive because of the large quantity of appeals granted and amount of re-trials necessary to correct previous errors. Some may argue that we should simply cut down on the amount of appeals to reduce cost. This option is not realistic. We are dealing with a human life, and we cannot take the risk of executing a human being just to save money. We all have the right to life, and no amount of money can take that away. The actual lethal injection is estimated to be about $34,000 (Hammonds). When examining the cost of the death penalty, it becomes clear that this type of punishment is incredibly more expensive than simply the punishment of life behind bars. A great example of the high cost of capital punishment is the state of California. A study released last month found California has spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment since 1978, only executing 13 criminals. That's about $184 million more a year than life sentences would have cost (Williams).
New Jersey is another great example of how expensive the death penalty is. New Jersey was a state that was facing very tough economic times. Their law makers realized how much money they were wasting on capital punishment and pulled the plug on the program. New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007 strictly because of how expensive it was becoming (Williams). In twenty one years, the state had spent over $251 million in for capital punishment and had not executed a single person (Williams). "It makes more sense fiscally to have inmates be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole than to have them sit on death row and to go through the appeals process," said Senator Christopher Bateman, the bill's sponsor, "New Jersey is going through tough times financially and any decision that is ethical in nature and promotes fiscal responsibility is a win-win for the state (Williams)." Senator Bateman is absolutely correct. It is a win-win situation for any state that decides to cut off their capital punishment program.
With the facts above, it is obvious to see that capital punishment is costing tax payers a large amount of money. This is money that could be used to prevent additional crime from occurring. If the death penalty were to be abolished, the state could use the money they saved by getting rid of the death penalty to upgrade police forces. These upgraded police forces in theory would assist in preventing and punishing criminal activity. This is also money that is being wasted that could be used for education spending. So many areas are being cut in our educational systems because lack of funds. This is one way that we can gain sufficient funds to prevent future budget cuts. In today's world when every government division is looking for ways to cut spending, this is an easy way to accomplish this.
Why is the death penalty so expensive? In the court of law, if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you free of charge. This costs the government money. What founds the government? Our tax dollars. The pretrial is also very expensive. Capital cases are far more complicated than non-capital cases. Experts in most cases will be called in to investigate forensic evidence, mental health and the social history of the defendant (Cost of the Death Penalty). Again, these costs are paid for by tax payer dollars which everybody pays for. Instead of these dollars going towards improving society, they are being used in a long drawn out process that is capital punishment.
Jury selection is another expensive process. The fact that a human's life is on the line requires an extensive selection process. The trial is the next step in the process which is extremely expensive. An average death penalty case lasts on average four times longer than a non-death penalty case (Cost of the Death Penalty). The longer the trial, the higher the expenses are. The longer the trial is, the longer it takes for the victim's loved ones to achieve justice. The longer that goes on, the longer the suffering lasts.
Capital punishment is also so expensive because of the large quantity of appeals granted and amount of re-trials necessary to correct previous errors. Some may argue that we should simply cut down on the amount of appeals to reduce cost. This option is not realistic. We are dealing with a human life, and we cannot take the risk of executing a human being just to save money. We all have the right to life, and no amount of money can take that away. The actual lethal injection is estimated to be about $34,000 (Hammonds). When examining the cost of the death penalty, it becomes clear that this type of punishment is incredibly more expensive than simply the punishment of life behind bars. A great example of the high cost of capital punishment is the state of California. A study released last month found California has spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment since 1978, only executing 13 criminals. That's about $184 million more a year than life sentences would have cost (Williams).
New Jersey is another great example of how expensive the death penalty is. New Jersey was a state that was facing very tough economic times. Their law makers realized how much money they were wasting on capital punishment and pulled the plug on the program. New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007 strictly because of how expensive it was becoming (Williams). In twenty one years, the state had spent over $251 million in for capital punishment and had not executed a single person (Williams). "It makes more sense fiscally to have inmates be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole than to have them sit on death row and to go through the appeals process," said Senator Christopher Bateman, the bill's sponsor, "New Jersey is going through tough times financially and any decision that is ethical in nature and promotes fiscal responsibility is a win-win for the state (Williams)." Senator Bateman is absolutely correct. It is a win-win situation for any state that decides to cut off their capital punishment program.
With the facts above, it is obvious to see that capital punishment is costing tax payers a large amount of money. This is money that could be used to prevent additional crime from occurring. If the death penalty were to be abolished, the state could use the money they saved by getting rid of the death penalty to upgrade police forces. These upgraded police forces in theory would assist in preventing and punishing criminal activity. This is also money that is being wasted that could be used for education spending. So many areas are being cut in our educational systems because lack of funds. This is one way that we can gain sufficient funds to prevent future budget cuts. In today's world when every government division is looking for ways to cut spending, this is an easy way to accomplish this.