Darksoul said:
I think if capital punishment was used correctly, as in a deterrent that has some teeth, people would refrain from some criminal activity.
The cost of incarcerating a prisoner for life is cheaper than killing him.
The appeal system in death penalty cases ends up costing the taxpayer a heck of a lot more. I'm directly cutting and pasting the following, with my own added underlining for emphasis:
Death penalty trials cost an average of 48% more than the average cost of trials in which prosecutors seek life imprisonment.
The investigation costs for death-sentence cases were about 3 times greater than for non-death cases.
The trial costs for death cases were about 16 times greater than for non-death cases ($508,000 for death case; $32,000 for non-death case).
The appeal costs for death cases were 21 times greater.
The costs of carrying out (i.e. incarceration and/or execution) a death sentence were about half the costs of carrying out a non-death sentence in a comparable case.
Trials involving a death sentence averaged 34 days, including jury selection; non-death trials averaged about 9 days.
The most comprehensive death penalty study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million more per execution than the a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life imprisonment (Duke University, May 1993). On a national basis, these figures translate to an extra cost of over $1 billion spent since 1976 on the death penalty. The study,"The Costs of Processing Murder Cases in North Carolina" is available on line at www-pps.aas.duke.edu/people/faculty/cook/comnc.pdf.
Total cost of Indiana's death penalty is 38% greater than the total cost of life without parole sentences--A study by Indiana's Criminal Law Study Commission found this to be true, assuming that 20% of death sentences are overturned and resentenced to life. (Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, January 10, 2002)
The following is provided to counter the $75,000 per year incarceration cost provided by someone earlier:
The cost of one inmate in a traditional medium security facility is $27.98 per day, which is $851.71 per month. The average time an offender spends in a medium security facility is 20.5 months. $851.71 x 20.5 months = $17,460.
Death Row studies show that incarceration costs approximately $20,000 per year, per inmate. Condemned inmates average 9.9 years (down from 11.2 in 1996) awaiting execution. By the time someone is executed, taxpayers have shelled out about $2 million in legal fees for each death row inmateÂ’s defense.
Studies on the deterrent effect of the death penalty show it isn't effective.
These are two studies of many done on the issue:
Capital Punishment and Deterrence: Examining the Effect of Executions on Murder in Texas. Authors John Sorenson, Robert Wrinkle, Victoria Brewer, and James Marquart examined executions in Texas between 1984 and 1997. They speculated that if a deterrent effect were to exist, it would be found in Texas because of the high number of death sentences and executions within the state. Using patterns in executions across the study period and the relatively steady rate of murders in Texas, the authors found no evidence of a deterrent effect.
The study concluded that the number of executions was unrelated to murder rates in general, and that the number of executions was unrelated to felony rates. (45 Crime and Delinquency 481-93 (1999)).
Deterrence, Brutalization, and the Death Penalty: Another Examination of OklahomaÕs Return to Capital Punishment. In this study, author William Bailey speculated that if executions had a deterrent effect in Oklahoma, it would be observable by comparing murder rates and rates of sub-types of murder, such as felony-murder, stranger robbery-related killings, stranger non-felony murder, and argument-related killings, before and after the resumption of executions. Bailey examined the period between 1989 and 1991 for total killings and sub-types of killing. After controlling for a number of variables, Bailey found that there was no evidence for a deterrent effect.
He did, however, find that there was a significant increase in stranger killings and non-felony stranger killings after Oklahoma resumed executions after a 25-year moratorium. (36 Criminology 711-33 (1998)).
Sources:
http://crimemagazine.com/TRIVIA/deathrow.htm
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108&scid=7
http://www.ncsc.dni.us/is/MEMOS/Archives/S95-1798.HTM
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=12&did=167
Regards,
Steve