Costs of Capital Punishment

Average cost per execution in the U. S.:   $2-3 million [i]

The most important aspect in the cost of capital punishment is that every case that is prosecuted as a death penalty case results in these expenses, regardless of the final sentence.

Cost Breakdown:

        Larger number of witnesses required

 

Texas 1992 estimate: average cost for 2 defense attorneys, 3 prosecutors, investigators & experts: $150,452 [v]

    Court Costs:  3.5 times greater [vi] (judge, court reporter, bailiffs)

 

Typical DR inmates serves 22% of a LWOP sentence [viii]

Oklahoma incarceration per inmate: $15,461/yr

(see http://www.doc.state.ok.us/CHARTS/COIOKNAT.HTM)
 Average difference in annual cost for death row compared to other inmates: $1000-2000/inmatex]
Once the costs of pre-trial, trial, and post-trial taken into consideration, it is more expensive to maintain system of capital punishment
Cost of "Death Watch"
Cost of increased security
Cost of technicians, chaplains etc.
Disposal of body

 

RECOMMENDATION:  There have been no in-depth studies of the costs of capital trials in Oklahoma.  A study of the costs of the system is needed.

 

 

 

Copyright  2001, Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. All rights reserved.


[i] New York State Defenders Association (1982) Capital Losses: The Price of the Death Penalty for New York State, Albany, NY: author;  Margot Garey (1985), "The Cost of Taking a Life: Dollars and Sense of the Death Penalty", University of California Davis Law Review 18: 1221-1273; Robert L. Spangenberg and Elizabeth Walsh (1989), "Capital Punishment of Life Imprisonment?  Some Cost Considerations." Loyola Los Angeles Law Review 23:45-58; Richard C. Dieter (1992), Millions Misspent: What Politicians Don't Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty, Washington, DC: Death Penalty Information Center; . 

[ii]   Garey, op. cit., p. 1248.; Spangenberg and Walsh, op. cit., p. 50.

[iii]   Philip J. Cook and Donna B. Slawson with Lori A Gries.(1993),  The Costs of Processing Murder Cases In North Carolina; Raleigh, NC: Administrative Office of the Courts.

[iv]   Garey, op cit., p. 1257.

[v]   Christy Hoppe (1992), "Life in Jail, or Death? Life is Cheaper."  Charlotte Observer, March 22, 19992, p. 12A.

[vi]   Spangenberg & Walsh op cit.; Garey op cit.

[vii]   Spangenberg & Walsh, op cit.

[viii]   Robert M. Bohm, 1999, DeathQuest, Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing, p.116.

[ix]    J. Brooks and J. H. Erickson (1996), "The Dire Wolf Collects His Due While the Boys Sit by the Fire."  Thomas M. Cooley Law Review 13: 883.