Which is costing the taxpayers more?

Question

Does it cost more to imprison a criminal for life or to execute them??? Someone told me the other day that the executing them costs more....how?......sounds hard to believe. Thoughts? Knowledge of the subject?

Answer 1

It does cost more to execute simply for the court fees, you have to pay the attorneys and judges to keep on hearing the case, because you have to have a certian amount,(by law), of apeals and full case reviews before someoen is executed. The cost is not in the executioners or the chemicals it is simply all the appeals and court proceedings

Answer 2

I know this answer very well having watched a documentary on PBS just last month concerning the cost between imprisonment for life versus a person on death row.

The answer is it cost about 27 times more to execute someone. The reason is because taxpayers have to repeatedly pay for appeals, etc... including the solitary confinement that cost more.

Answer 3

Execution of a criminal costs more than one who is imprisoned because the cost of the equipment and materials used in executing a criminal are costly. Add to that the salary of the executioner.

Answer 4

The reason it DOES cost more is because the comparision is unfair. Its comparing lawyers to prison guards.

The comparision of 1 person in a jail cell for his ife (estimate 60 years), the average cost for his guards salary (like $40,000/year X # of guards (100) divided by # of prisoners(3,000) - since he is only one of them), his food and board (minimal costs) assuming he files only 1 appeal.
--- VERSUS ---
the cost of multiple lawyers (for capital cases most defendants have court appointed (paid by your taxes) lawyers - at least two for the trial). the trial will have tons of witnesses - especially expert witnesses who get paid $200 - $400 per hour (that includes research time, writing a report and testifying, and expenses (defense pays travel, room + board during trial). Maybe the cost of sequestering a jury too. Hwoever, the big bucks start paying at the next level - appeals, lots of them.

First is the automatic appeal (additional lawyers at tax payer expenses - who are veteran PDs or private specialists who make either $150,000/yr or charge $400/hr for their services), this requires more lawyers to review the trial transcripts and find the "loopholes" / errors to exploit and write a comprehensive brief. Then they argue this at the appeals court level. This is often followed by another trial (b/c the appeals court catches and error); even the appeals court upholds it there will almost certainly be an appeal to the Supreme Court and we repeat this process.
Don't forget the habeus corpus proceedings and constitutional appeals (violation of 8thAmendment, etc) ...[This is not taking into account lobbyists (on both sides), pundits, amicus parties]

Essentially, it means this: lawyer are more expensive than guards!
So it costs more to kill someone b/c if we make sure we are killing the right person through the right process (with lawyers)! Of course, if we paid prison guards what they are worth, it might be a more even analysis.
--Z--

Answer 5

Well, actually, it DOES cost more to execute criminals. But, the reason that it costs so much is all the Liberals working against the death penalty. That causes appeal after appeal after appeal.

Answer 6

The reason it costs more to execute under current conditions is because of all the appeals that come along with the death sentence.

Answer 7

The legal costs of all the appeals are astronomical compared to the cost of feeding them for a few more years.

Answer 8

Ask the Chinese....put a bullet in the criminal's head and bill the family. Not a bad idea.