Death Penalty Economics
Introduction
The death sentence is one of the most extensively discussed and researched topics. A death penalty is also known as capital punishment. It is a judicial sentence where a criminal is put to death after being found guilty of a heinous crime like murder. During the ancient times, the death penalty was allowed and practiced by most countries. Its existence can be traced back to the eighteenth century in the code of King Hammurabi who strongly believed in capital punishment.
The debate on the death penalty has led to the development of two schools of thought. There are the proponents who adhere to the fact that the death penalty relieves the world of bad people and sets an example for the rest. On the other hand, those against this insist that it is unfair in practice, capricious and too intense. A worrying trend is the cost of the death penalty and its effects to the economy. When subjected to a cost benefit analysis the ledger is usually one sided. This essay will analyse whether the cost of instituting the death penalty is worth the cause. The facts presented will be espoused from existing secondary data.
Comparisons have been made on the costs of capital punishment in the United States of America. Apparently, in every state, the costs seem to be rising at a worrying trend. For instance; in Maryland, the cost of instituting the death penalty cost three times the amount of a non- capital punishment case. It is also estimated that housing a death row inmate costs about two times extra depending on the severity of the case. These costs are buried in legal proceedings and the resource of time.
Thesis
The cost of instituting the death penalty is too high. Other forms of punishment should be utilised.
A study conducted by Amnesty International in the United States of America revealed that costs related to death row keep increasing over the years. A similar sentiment was echoed by other economists. Apparently, the death penalty devours a lot of resources in the process of instituting it. When the death penalty is in the offing, the costs are usually higher than normal. Various reasons are attributed to this including the time and the steps taken in the appellate. The process is likely to drag on for decades especially with the appeals included.
How much does the death penalty really cost?
Most countries abolished the death penalty majorly due to the fact that it is against human rights. However, the costs of instituting the death penalty have been overwhelming, and most countries have opted to other forms of correction and/ or punishment. This form of punishment is ostensibly stated as a cheaper method of punishment. The fact that killing someone will get rid of a hefty prison budget is a fallacy. Overwhelming evidence suggests the same. The costs here imply fiscal and social argument costs. Capital punishment is known to be costly due to a number of reasons.
Process of Instituting the Death Penalty
According to research, the death row penalty has cost the government of the United States of America about four billion dollars. The process undertaken during the institution of capital punishment is quite extensive. Normal cases are usually divided into the pre- trial, trial and the post- trial stages. The death penalty is usually a little too extreme, and processes are usually intensive. This is what makes the whole process expensive than the normal cases.
The pre- trial stage is almost like any normal arrest. The suspect is arrested and detained. Once the evidence collecting is completed, the offender is detained. The difference in a death penalty is that tight security is required at certain stages. This requires a lot of man power which poses an extra cost to the state. In some cases, a special cell is required. These costs are incurred by the state. The seriousness of each case warrants the type of evidence to be collected. The expertise used in collecting this evidence is also incurred by the government.
In some cases, extradition may not lead to trial. The offender may file for insanity, and a lot of expertise is needed to determine this. For instance; a government psychiatrist requires at least two hundred dollars per hour. The process may take a lot of time thus an extra cost to the government. It should be noted that time is also an important resource here. It is estimated that these costs can exceed to amounts that range between five hundred dollars to fifteen hundred dollars.
The trial stage is considered as one of the longest and toughest stages of a death penalty sentencing. It includes the prosecution proving beyond doubt that the offender is guilty. The jury will then pass the sentence and the offender will be given a chance to appeal. The government is given the mandate to choose the jury. The process includes analysing the background of each juror. There is a minimum number of the team required in each case. In some cases, two different teams of jurors are required for the sentencing and the appeal. These costs are taken care of by the government.
Once the team of jurors is chosen, the introductory part of the case begins. It is the work of the state to identify witnesses for the prosecutor. The evidence and the witnesses are introduced at this stage. The process depends on the availability of evidence and the severity of the case. The passing of the sentence is left at the discretion of the prosecutor. This process takes up resources like time, energy, legal fees, jurors’ salaries and fees for other expertise. Sometimes, the state may have to appoint a lawyer for the offender at the budget of the state.
Once this stage is successfully passed, the offender through the advice of his legal team may file for an appeal. When this happens, a mandatory court review is done to ascertain that no mistake was made. The state caters for the clerks and other workers used in the determination of this review. It is estimated that these reviews take at least five hundred hours of a lawyer’s time. Other expenses are incurred during this process such as photocopying and printing. If the mistake was as a result of negligence on the part of the court, then all costs incurred before and after this process are incurred by the state. Evidence shows that the costs are quite high and they keep increasing through the case. For instance; in Maryland, an additional courtroom charge of sixty five thousand dollars per year is incurred during appeals. The state may also need to cater for the legal fees for the offender at this stage. It should be noted that the state caters for the upkeep of such an individual at this stage.
The last stage during the prosecution of the death penalty is the post conviction stage. In most cases, the state is forced to provide legal counsel for the offender. Once it is proven that the sentence was not passed legally, the state is required to cater for all other costs. At this juncture, the total hours undertaken by the attorney may exceed one thousand four hundred. The costs are thus significantly replicated.
Costs Incurred in Maintaining a Death Row Inmate
The process of finding evidence that would be enough to arrest an offender requires a lot of money, time and energy. Once the offender is arrested, the state is required to take up all responsibility. In some cases, the offender may require a special cell and even some special form of transportation. This is especially so for crimes that are related to the death penalty. A typical situation is where a special cell is needed, and it should be under complete surveillance. The kind of manpower needed for this kind of activity is quite overwhelming for the government’s budget. Estimations made reveal that the average costs for maintaining a death row prisoner increase by thirty percent (30%) every year.
Initially, executing a condemned person involved mutilation or hanging. The costs for doing this were almost zero. However, the methods employed since the industrialisation period require a lot of mechanisation. The most commonly used method is the electric chair. First, installing it is a process that requires expertise. Maintaining it also requires regular checks. This costs the state a substantial amount of money that could have been redeployed in other projects.
This research produces hard facts that the death penalty is actually not worth the cost. The funds utilised in instituting this kind of punishment is quite high. The figures also keep rising through the years. It is evident that there is no way of improving this situation. Apart from finances, insurmountable resources are employed in this cause. These resources could instead be redeployed to other correctional programs which are likely to lead to attainment of the goal of correction. This is the requirement of every prison and/ or correctional facilities. Also, the long time taken in jails could be used for correcting the individual instead of preparation for appeals. In this way, the correctional facilities would make more sense.
Is the death penalty worth it? The Pros and Cons
There are various factors raised by both the opponents and proponents of the death penalty. The proponents of the death penalty insist that it is a good way of deterring crime. They insisted that the death penalty sent a message that would instil fear in all like minded people. However, various researches revealed otherwise. The pertinent question asked in these researches was why there was still an increase in crime rate regardless of such stern measures. For instance; it was argued that instilling fear was not an effective way of reducing crime. In fact, long term imprisonment had a positive effect on deterring crime.
Capital punishment was abolished in many states for being barbaric and against the human right of life. Generally, taking away the life of another individual is not legal. The way with which this sentence is carried out compounds to this issue. In order to ensure that the younger generations understand the meaning of human rights, it is important to uphold them. Therefore, the death penalty should be abolished.
In the United States of America, the death penalty has been accused of being partisan. Evidence shows that more than half of death row inmates come from minority communities such as the black people and Hispanics. The bias shows that a lot of people from the black community suffer due to this. This form of social injustice depicts the flaws of the justice system and the country in the international scope. Furthermore, it makes people lose trust in the justice system. Also, the wrong message is passed to the younger generation. The whole point of a correctional system becomes vague. This makes it impossible to liberalise a country and thus developmental projects are hindered to some extent. As such, death penalty should be abolished and replaced by a viable punishment.
All the facts above are summed up to show that the death penalty is unfair and unreasonable. First, the cost is inflated while the results are unworthy. It also goes against all human rights and it exposes others to barbaric activities. Capital punishment does not under any circumstance meet the goal of any correctional facility. The justice system is one of the important factions of any functioning government. It acts to hold the state together by ensuring security and stability in the country. However, it is quite evident that this system is about to fail based on the current economic evidence. The effects of this appalling practice can be clearly seen from the research conducted. There is thus need to stop this practice as a way of saving this great nation from imminent and looming controversy whose result may be too expensive to behold.
Bibliography
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Death Penalty Information Centre. “Costs of the Death Penalty.” Accessed May 13, 2013. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty
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Equal Justice USA. “Wasteful and Inefficient: The Alarming Cost of the Death Penalty.” Accessed May 13, 2013. http://www.ejusa.org/learn/cost
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Robertson, Diane. Tears from heaven: The pros and cons of the death penalty as seen through the eyes of the victims of violent crime and death row inmates throughout America. New York: iUniverse, 2002.
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