Cost Of Capital Punishment

The death penalty also known as capital punishment is death by execution ordered to someone lawfully imprisoned for a capital crime. Capital punishment is an issue that has been argued in the United States for years. Many are opposed to it, yet the majority is for it. Nearly 1,400 prisoners have been executed between the years 1976 and the end of 2014 (Rizzo). Currently, there are thirty one states in the United States where the death penalty is legal and nineteen states where it is banned. Within the western country, the United States is the only administering the death penalty and is the leader in handing out death sentences. The government allows the states’ to use their own discretion when it comes to the use of the death penalty. For …show more content…
For instance, from the year 1973 to 2011 the cost to taxpayers for 8,300 death sentences was $25 million dollars (Dye). Because death row inmates are housed in solitary confinement, which cost more than being placed in the general population, the pay for security is much higher. According to a cost study by the Sacramento Bee, it stated, if California would completely eliminate the death penalty they would save 90 million dollars a year (Dye). The execution itself is not what cost, it is the years of appeals. Defense attorneys, as well as prosecutors, require more pay because of the hours spent on these cases. Also, the defense attorneys have the right to call experts, such as psychiatrists. The reason for the psychiatrist is to give a total mental history of the inmate. Extended trials, expert witnesses also contribute to the high cost of death row inmates (Dye). Most of all, the taxpayers money is being used for this execution. Instead of giving prisoners the death sentence, the United States can save millions of dollars on issuing life sentences (Brook). The cost of housing someone on death row is three times as much as some serving a life …show more content…
Also, there is no proof that it is a warning to others who may commit a similar type of crime. In other words that theory has yet to be proven. Although, the supporters of capital punishment believe it is a deterrent. In addition, the states that choose to use capital punishment do not have a lower crime rate (Brook). According to the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, it states that “the murder rate for the state of North Carolina actually declined following the halt in utilizing execution as a form of punishment” (Dye). Nevertheless, other studies have proven that states that are not using capital punishment have the tendency to have a lower crime rate and the states that use capital punishment, it does not discourage lawbreakers from committing crime. Therefore, it would be safe to say there is no clear evidence to suggest the death penalty deters people from committing crime or murders from killing