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"The cost of capital punishment"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the headline of this editorial against the death penalty appearing in today's Boston Globe.  Here are snippets: It may be too soon to call it a trend, but two states have abolished the death penalty in the past three years, and 10 others have legislation pending. States and voters are reconsidering capital punishment, and many have a new reason: money.... A recent study by the Urban Institute found that an average death penalty trial costs a state about $2 million more than a murder trial where no death penalty is sought.  The Death Penalty Information Center estimates that keeping an inmate on death row costs $90,000 a year in extra security. Almost every state is facing a deficit, and getting smart about corrections budgets is an unexpected side benefit...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 15, 2009 (boomark / email).