Death is Costly
It what must be the most unique argument against the death penalty I have heard so far, Governor Martin O’Malley addressed Maryland Senate last week with the argument that the death penalty is more expensive than other punishments. He points out that it costs three times more to try a person for a capital crime than a non-capital homicide. If I understand his argument, he is saying that the lethal nature of the death penalty means that prosecution and defense work much harder because so much is at stake.
Interesting reasoning. I am not sure if abolishing the death penalty would really reduce legal costs to the state, but it is nice to hear of someone putting forward a fresh reason to dislike the death penalty.
MacDoctor applauds him.
Related posts:
- Starving to Death I might have known that the case of Margaret Page,...
- Off With His Head! In a scene reminiscent of the Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carroll’s...
- A Quiet Death Doctors, in general, do not handle death well. After all,...
- Pull the Plug Scientists are now using lawyers in their experiments, rather than...
- Death With Dignity “One of the messages is that we don’t all die...
Feb 26 09 9:17 pm
When I argue the merits of the death penalty I often get that one fired at me.
My response is that the extra cost is simply a product of unnecessary opportunities that the system offers to lawyers to make more money, and that either we are getting acceptable levels of the correct verdicts being passed with the lesser money spent on imprisoning people for life, or we aren’t.
Tripling the money spent should not be leading to more accurate verdicts.
I would imagine it does not make the verdict more accurate, but, I suspect it would be politically impossible to prevent multiple appeals
Feb 26 09 10:23 pm
I’m surprised you hadn’t come across this one – I remember being taught it at school in the 90s (admittedly I did have to study that silly move ‘Dead Man Walking’ three years in a row as my various english teachers failed to collude when planning their course).
I digress – from memory, the majority of the costs come from the multiple appeals process, due in main to the progressive increase in costs as they go to the higher courts.
Add in the amount of time for incarceration (we exclude Texas here of course), and the bill’s going to mount.
Gee I hope my memory stacks up,
PB.
I hadn’t come across it being used as an argument against the death penalty. I was aware that capital cases are very costly.
Feb 26 09 10:54 pm
I simply don’t trust any government with the power to kill citizens. Too corrupt, too incompetent.
And if someone is wrongly convicted, it’s a bit bloody late to undo the injustice after they’ve been hanged/electrocuted/shot.
Yes, I have similar reservations about the death penalty – its all a bit too permanent.
Feb 27 09 8:57 pm
3 reasons to not support the death penalty:
Arthur Allan Thomas
David Bain
John Barlow
A forth could be Mark Lundy.
Mar 1 09 5:50 pm
I have also heard the cost argument before.
The only case where I support the death penalty is in the case of dictators or terrorists leaders where it is clear there have been responsible for many innocent people being put to death. These cases should be looked at individually. If it looks like imprisoning the person for life would likely led to hostage taking and other retaliation the death penalty could save lives.
i do not believe that the death penalty is a deterrent in civilian cases. In the case of dictators it could be a bargaining chip that could save lives. The could be told if they step down immediately the death penalty will not be sought.