Introduction
Every serious study on the costs of the federal or state capital punishment system has concluded that it is significantly more expensive than a system in which life in prison without the possibility of parole is the most severe penalty. Capital cases are more complex; require more attention and have higher burdens associated with them. As such, they divert significant resources—financial and personnel that could be used elsewhere. More often than not, money is taken from other law enforcement and public safety needs. In some cases, death penalty trials have nearly bankrupted local communities.
A system for achieving society’s goal of preventing crime while providing a consistent and evenhanded punishment system requires wise use of the resources available to the administration of justice. Maintaining a system of capital punishment, however, deviates from and distorts these goals. The costly, time consuming, controversial and devastating process of capital punishment drains the criminal justice system of necessary resources that it could otherwise use to meet its goals. This issue is especially acute when the national trend is moving towards a reduction of public budgets in tighter economic times when there is less money to spend, fewer taxes being collected, and increased strain on the social services net. Simply stated, a criminal justice system that includes the death penalty costs more than a system that chooses life imprisonment without the possibility of parole as its ultimate penalty.
Capital punishment in California
Capital punishment in California is more expensive than a life imprisonment sentence without the opportunity of parole. These costs are not the result of frivolous appeals but rather the result of constitutionally mandated safeguards:
Juries must be given clear guidelines on sentencing, which result in explicit provisions for what constitutes aggravating and mitigating circumstances.......
