$232.7 million per year
A Seattle University study examining the costs of the death penalty in Washington found that each death penalty case cost an average of $1 million more than a similar case where the death penalty was not sought ($3.07 million, versus $2.01 million). Texas death penalty cases cost more than non-capital cases. Each death penalty case in Texas costs taxpayers about $2.3 million. That is about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. (Executions Cost Texas Millions, Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1992). The estimated murder cost is transferable, DeLisi says: Any murder, anywhere in the country, costs society somewhere on the order of $17 million. That means the worst offender in the Iowa State study, convicted of nine killings, imposed a $153 million cost on society. For armed robberies the cost increases eightfold, to $335,733. Every aggravated assault costs $145,379. Each rape costs $448,532. Then there is murder. The researchers, led by sociologist Matt DeLisi, put the price tag at a whopping $17,252,656. Conclusions. This study concludes that the enhanced cost of trying a death penalty case is at least $1.25 million more than trying a comparable murder case resulting in a sentence of life in prison without parole. The cost of the present system with reforms recommended by the Commission to ensure a fair process would be $232.7 million per year. The cost of a system in which the number of death-eligible crimes was significantly narrowed would be $130 million per year. The cost of a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty would be $11.5 million per year. Read the report Executing all of the people currently on death row, or waiting for them to die there of other causes, will cost California an estimated $4 billion more than if they had been sentenced to die in prison of disease, injury, or old age; California death penalty trials have cost as much as $10.9 million. The cost of the present system with reforms recommended by the Commission to ensure a fair process would be $232.7 million per year. The cost of a system in which the number of death-eligible crimes was significantly narrowed would be $130 million per year. The cost of a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty would be $11.5 million per year. Read the report In Florida, try $ 51 million a year. That, according to a Palm Beach Post estimate, is how much Florida spends each year to enforce the death penalty-above and beyond what it would cost to punish all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole. He also pointed out that if the death penalty were eliminated tomorrow, Florida would save only about $ 11 million a year-the cost of specialized lawyers hired exclusively to work on death penalty appeals. That translates to $37.2 million for each of the state’s five executions since the state reenacted the death penalty. The study estimates that the average cost to Maryland taxpayers for reaching a single death sentence is $3 million - $1.9 million more than the cost of a non-death penalty case. Texas death penalty cases cost more than non-capital cases. Each death penalty case in Texas costs taxpayers about $2.3 million. That is about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. (Executions Cost Texas Millions, Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1992). The study counted death penalty case costs through to execution and found that the median death penalty case costs $1.26 million. Non-death penalty cases were counted through to the end of incarceration and were found to have a median cost of $740,000. Texas death penalty cases cost more than non-capital cases. Each death penalty case in Texas costs taxpayers about $2.3 million. That is about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. (Executions Cost Texas Millions, Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1992). It costs approximately $90,000 more a year to house an inmate on death row, than in the general prison population or $57.5 million annually. The Attorney General devotes about 15% of his budget, or $11 million annually to death penalty cases. The cost of the present system with reforms recommended by the Commission to ensure a fair process would be $232.7 million per year. The cost of a system in which the number of death-eligible crimes was significantly narrowed would be $130 million per year. The cost of a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty would be $11.5 million per year. Read the report
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/everyday_economics/2010/10/true_crime_costs.html http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42 http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42 http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/2289 http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42
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