Gerard David's painting: The Judgment of Cambyses[/caption]Carol Forsloff--If you want to kill a man (or woman) in America, it will be a costly exercise. You need a lot of money for that license to kill. So it's important, if you want to save money, to know some of the facts.
The cost of executions in the United States are broken down on a state-by-state basis. For those states with the death penalty, the additional costs of the death penalty vs life in prison without parole is millions per year in extra costs. And it's likely to be more costly to execute a woman since it isn't done as much and folks take their time to get the job done.
For example, a study done in Maryland in 2008 showed that it cost $186 million for five executions or $37.2 million per person.
New York State paid out $170 million in 9 years, with no executions, since in 1995 it reinstated the death penalty, then overturned the law in 2004, so all 7 death sentences that had been imposed were overturned.
Now Texas is tough indeed. It often metes out more death penalties than any other state, a leader of the pack for years. And whereas there don't seem to be current numbers on costs, it was found in each death penalty case the tax payers spent about $2.3 million, which is three times the amount of keeping a prisoner in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. That was in 1993 according to the Dallas News, and we all know that prices for everything, including executions, has gone up since then. It's verified by the fact that all the other states have shown increases in costs for sending a man to his death.
Oklahoma now has the top spot these days on execution rates, although it often vies with Texas for the prize; and for those interested, you can find on the Internet the type of death penalty administered and the statistics on almost every aspect of the death penalty across the country.
Most states complain about overcrowding and prison costs, even as the cost of executions far outweigh long-term prison costs, by millions in fact.
The problem is, however, executions are popular. While the execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle was reported as abhorrent by the American press, relating the brutality of North Korea's government, the United States led the entire world in the number of prison executions in 2013, excluding China. Furthermore the US with its death penalty has its execution details found similar to those of Somalia considered a terrorist state, since both execute youth under age 18. And while the US does not offer beheading as an option, it still allows death by a firing squad. Most Americans also favor the death penalty, although the numbers are dropping.
140 countries are either abolitionists by law or practice, according to 2012 statistics, while 58 are retentionists and 20 actually carried them out. It appears therefore in most of the world's countries, execution is unpopular as a form of punishment.
It would appear, therefore, if the United States wants to save money and raise its standing in how other nations perceive its system of justice, one way to do that would be to eliminate the death penalty and for the other 78 to follow suit.
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