While in economic aspect, cost plays an important role. The opponents argued that the cost of a death sentence is much higher than life-in-prison sentence. Death penalty cases are estimated to cost taxpayers seven times more money. According to Gray, “In 2008, the California Commission for the Fair Administration of Justice estimated that it costs taxpayers about $114 million more per year to process death penalty trials,…than it would process trials in which the maximum sentence were to be life without the possibility to parole,” (Gray). It is simply would cost more in death penalty cases for attorneys, appeals, and procedural safeguards. As state budget shrank, people have to reconsider how much the weight is put on taxpayers. On the other
…show more content…
The death penalty system in America is slow, expensive, and inconsistent. Not to mention, the court procedures and trials take an enormous amount of time and money of taxpayers and the price is not low. Von Drehle, Time’s editor and journalist, sees that a death sentence costs at least six times compared to a life sentence. He commented “despite extraordinary efforts by the courts and enormous expense to taxpayers, the modern death penalty remains slow, costly and uncertain,” (Von …show more content…
He quoted that “every time we have an execution, there is a risk of executing an innocent person. The risk may be small, but it’s unacceptable”. Before the first DNA exoneration took place in 1989, the number of people sentenced to death before the DNA test could prove their innocence was 18. The average time of sentence that prisoners served before the DNA test was 13.6 years (CNN). With the discovery of DNA testing, many cases were reopened where the defendants were minorities, to investigate whether bias was a factor in their sentence. One of many examples of sending innocent people to death row and showing of discrimination in death sentence was Henry Lee McCollum and his half brothers, Leon Brown. In 1983, the brothers were arrested for murdering and raping of Sabrina Buie, an 11-years-old girl from North Carolina. Based largely on their confession, they were sent to death for a conviction of a murder that they didn’t commit. Upon their retrial in 1988, McCollum was sent to death again, while Brown was sentenced life-in-prison (). The brothers spent 30 years in jail before the DNA testing proved they were
The death penalty system in America is slow, expensive, and inconsistent. Not to mention, the court procedures and trials take an enormous amount of time and money of taxpayers and the price is not low. Von Drehle, Time’s editor and journalist, sees that a death sentence costs at least six times compared to a life sentence. He commented “despite extraordinary efforts by the courts and enormous expense to taxpayers, the modern death penalty remains slow, costly and uncertain,” (Von …show more content…
He quoted that “every time we have an execution, there is a risk of executing an innocent person. The risk may be small, but it’s unacceptable”. Before the first DNA exoneration took place in 1989, the number of people sentenced to death before the DNA test could prove their innocence was 18. The average time of sentence that prisoners served before the DNA test was 13.6 years (CNN). With the discovery of DNA testing, many cases were reopened where the defendants were minorities, to investigate whether bias was a factor in their sentence. One of many examples of sending innocent people to death row and showing of discrimination in death sentence was Henry Lee McCollum and his half brothers, Leon Brown. In 1983, the brothers were arrested for murdering and raping of Sabrina Buie, an 11-years-old girl from North Carolina. Based largely on their confession, they were sent to death for a conviction of a murder that they didn’t commit. Upon their retrial in 1988, McCollum was sent to death again, while Brown was sentenced life-in-prison (). The brothers spent 30 years in jail before the DNA testing proved they were