Many people who support the death penalty believe that putting convicted criminals to death is a cheaper alternative than housing them in federal prisons for the rest of their lives. In fact, from prosecution to incarceration, the costs associated with carrying out capital punishment are far higher than the costs associated with imposing a life sentence. The burden of these high costs is almost entirely carried by tax payers in sentencing states.
Researchers in Maryland empirical study analyzing the financial effects of the death penalty relative to lesser sentences handed down between 1978 and 1999. The researchers found that, in criminal cases where prosecutors unsuccessfully sought the death penalty, the average cost over a twenty-year period amounted to $1.8 million. Of that, $950,000 was spent on prison costs, and $850,000 was spent on adjudication, which includes the costs of the defendant’s public defense, jury selection, and going to trial. In cases which did result in death sentence convictions, the average cost was $3 million, with double the amount spent on costs associated with adjudication (due to the process of appealing the conviction). In contrast, the researchers found that in the same time period, capital-eligible cases in which the death penalty was not sought cost an average of $1.1 million dollars. In other words, the cost of the death penalty is between $800,000 and $1.9 million greater than the cost of a life sentence. In the time period analyzed, Maryland gained 56 death-row prisoners, representing a cost of $107.3 million over their lifetime to Maryland taxpayers (Roman, 2008). Counter-intuitively, it is much more expensive to put prisoners to death than to keep them alive for the rest of their natural lives.
Work Cited
Roman, John, et al. The cost of the death penalty in Maryland. Abell Foundation, 2008.
