Capital Punishment is very expensive. In fact, most statistics state that it is cheaper to house a convict in prison for life rather than pay for all of the appeals and other costs associated with enforcing the death penalty. However, if certain steps were taken to remove the long process of appeals and re-appeals and all of the other time-consuming procedures, capital punishment could become a less expensive way to deal with felons.
In California, it costs tax payers 250 million dollars per ONE execution. This cost includes the experts and lawyers hired, the trial fees, and other various costs associated with long trials (and appeals). In fact, the Judicial Conference of the United States estimates that capital punishment is four times more expensive than the alternative (keeping a prisoner for one, or multiple, life terms). However, I think that capital punishment is worth the money in most cases as it prevents serial killers, rapists, and other convicts from potentially getting out on good behavior or escaping from jail only to commit those same crimes again.
Citation: Dieter, R (2007). Costs of the Death Penalty and Related Issues, Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved February 13, 2009, www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty
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"it costs tax payers 250 million dollars per ONE execution." oh yeah, well sure good idea lets take away the lawers the judges and everything else that cost money, then it wont cost as much...(-_-)thats right, then we'll have enough money to execute that guy, is this as far as we've managed to come? you think it's a better idea to go through all that just so you'll be able to execute for less?? you sound like those people who instead of using capital punishment as a true punishment you just think of it as a convinient way to get rid of prisoners who would otherwise take up space in prison cells...:(
ReplyDeleteActually, I never said to take away "the lawyers and everything else that cost money", I believe that the process should be shortened, yes, but I don't think the right to a lawyer should be taken away. Also, tax payers should not have to pay for keeping criminals in prison if they are murderers that cannot be rehabilitated; our tax money should be spent on getting rid of felons that cannot do anything for society
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