how can i provide infomation on the death penalty being less expensive than Life without parole?

Question

my paper is argueing death penalty vs life in prison without parole. i'm trying to argue that it is more expensive to keep someone in life in prison than it is to excute. excluding any moral or beliefs. Some of the sub topics i will be using are the costs, overcrowding of prisons, lifestyle in prison, and justice. any suggestions or ideas

Answer 1

i've actually always heard it was the opposite. That it is more expensive to kill them than to keep them in prison for life.

Check these articles

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108&scid=7#financial%20facts

Answer 2

Here is some facts about this (with sources.) Your thesis that the death penalty costs much less is incorrect.

Here is some idea why (sources below):

Pre trial costs are much greater because, once a suspect is caught, the prosecutor must do a separate investigation into the crime, into the suspect himself, that is, does the suspect have mental retardation (if so, he cannot face the death penalty) or mental illness (he can face the death penalty). If the prosecutor decides to seek the death penalty, the trial will have two separate phases, mandated by the supreme Court, one to decide guilt, one to decide the penalty. The process of choosing jurors is much more complicated in death penalty cases. Many more pre-trial motions are filed by both sides and have to be answered. Prosecution teams use more lawyers, and where the money is available, by the defense as well. Death penalty cases take much longer to try. If the sentence is death, the prisoner will be locked up in a separate prison facility, which is generally much expensive to run and to maintain. At this point appeals begin and costs continue to mount up. It is also important to note that the overwhelming number of cases where the death penalty is not on the table end in plea bargains.

As an example, in New York State, the average annual cost to incarcerate someone not on death row is about $35,000 per year. On the other hand, in the years since 1995, when New York State brought back a death penalty law, 7 people were sentenced to death, none had more than one appeal and 3 had not even had their first appeal. New York shelled out well over $200,000,000 for its capital punishment system since 1995. Assuming each of the 7 men lives for 40 years the cost to incarcerate all of them for life would be under 10 million dollars.

If the death penalty process were speeded up, the costs would still be much higher than with life sentences and many innocent men who were on death row for years would have been killed in our names.

Other facts (also sourced below)

The death penalty risks executing innocent people (123 already exonerated). In many of these cases, the defendent had served over 2 decades. DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides. It is not a guarantee against the execution of innocent people.

No reputable study has shown the death penalty to be a deterrent. In fact, homicide rates are higher in states with the death penalty.

Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. Supermax prisons are terrible places to spend the rest of your life.

The death penalty can be very hard on families of murder victims. Many murder victim family members across the country argue that the drawn- out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

The death penalty does not apply to the worst of the worst. It applies to defendants with the worst lawyers. When is the last time a wealthy person faced execution (or even came close?)

48% of Americans prefer life without parole and 47% prefer the death penalty. (Gallup Poll, late 2006) We are learning.

You should recheck the facts. The practical facts trump snap judgments and "eye for an eye" sound bites.

Answer 3

Death penalty actually is MORE expensive due to many automatic appeals built into the system. Even for non-celebrity criminals, their case often ended up getting highlighted by the media, and eventually appealed all the way to the supreme court. Typical time from conviction to execution is a decade or two (or three!), and it seems it's only going up. New technology allows re-examination of old evidence (like DNA). Even when there is no doubt to the guilt, a lot can change in a man after 20-30 years, both spiritually and physically, and both may be grounds for clemency. A while back, when that old gang leader was slated to be executed in CA (he later wrote a whole bunch of anti-gang books and became a minor celebrity) a bunch of lawyers petitioned right up to the execution hoping Arnold would issue a clemency order. Finally due to the finality of capital punishment, extra money SHOULD be spent to make absolutely sure there is no mistake.

On the flip side of the coin... The US justice system allows prosecutors to use death penalty as a threat, to force perps to reach some sort of plea deal, on cases that are serious enough. Perhaps even force one to testify against others for reduction in sentence severity or even total immunity. So one can argue that this actually SAVES court costs as plea deals don't go to court and thus cannot be appealed.

Answer 4

I was about to start typing when i finally saw a few worthy answers to this debate, notably Susan S. I haven't much to add after her comments. People who develop an opinion, especially when it matters so much, would do well to do their homework and not spout the spoon fed, pop culture phrases that I so often see here on Y/A. I know that most who post answers here are quite young... and frankly, that's what frightens me. To make broad sweeping (and stupidly) untrue statements like it is proven that the dealth penalty deters crime, is the uninformed opinion of one who is promoting something unfounded and likely only his or her own personal wish, but certainly not fact. Thsi is a measureable and easy to find statistic. Facts are facts, and the argument that it is more expensive to house lifers is one total myth. The average condemned person spends 12 years on death row and appeals are the responsibility of the state and automatic. But my personal reason for being so horribly against it is that it is the only crime we punish by committing it again. I can't understand the logic. We don't rape rapists, steal from thieves or send thugs to beat up batterers, so why do we committ murder in the name of being "fair"? If you have the guts to make any comment, do get the real facts straight first. No one wins when the decision is final, and if you are so niave to think that no one who is innocent has been a victim of the death penalty, then you have a bit of growing up to do. Our legal system is based upon reasonable doubt, AND the credo that 10 guilty should go free before one innocent suffers. The death penalty does not allow for human failing, and can never be corrected once applied. Life matters too much (or so we say, in everything else) to put into out own hands. One death cannot be corrected by another. We all lose on this one.

Answer 5

The fact is that unless the commit a felony on top of murder, they wont get the death penalty. They have to do that just to be able to get it, and with all the peace keeping ******* we have in the US, the switch from the death penalty to life in prison is usually easily done. But it costs I believe 40,000.00 a year just to house 1 person. And with the way most prisons are ran, its just ridiculous. What they should do is send them all to an island that isnt guarded or anything, then let themselves take care of themselves, drop some food occassionally I guess.

But we spend more on war than we do on prisoners. Those bullets and explosives and fuel, etc. isnt cheap, and considering they do alot of exercises every day, Id say cut that **** off, and you can save a lot of money.

Put down the bombs, pick up some bongs.

Answer 6

Actually, the opposite is true. Death penalty cases are much more costly than life without parole. Try http://www.deathpenalty.org They have all sorts of different information on the cost breakdowns from various states. An example posted on the site is "Florida would save $51 million dollars a year by punishing all first-degree murderers with life without parole, instead of pursuing the death penalty".

Answer 7

My suggestion is that you're going to be suprised. The appeals process for a death sentence runs for years and when added to the cost of housing the prisoner on Death Row, it is much more expensive than a sentence of life without parole.

Answer 8

You would also have to bring out the cost of upkeep of death cells , cost of apeal times (Date of sentencing to date of execution)which may last 15 years,
I took a course on this subject. Very interesting. Good luck.

Answer 9

I think you will find that you need to change your thesis.....

I have never seen research that suggests anything except that the death penalty is MORE expensive than life without parole.....

Answer 10

Go to the DOJ website. I'm sure you can find a lot of information there.