Testimony of Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director, Death

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Costs of the Death Penalty page 6The end result of the Harris case is that his sentence was overturned and he has beenresentenced to life in prison with no parole. If the death penalty had not been sought,all the extra expenses associated with the death penalty could have been avoided, andthe result would have been exactly the same.By the way, I should point out that since 1995, when New York adopted the deathpenalty, the murder rate in Massachusetts has dropped 36% without the death penalty.COST STUDIESIt turns out to be relatively difficult to put a precise cost on the death penalty: it is liketrying to put a dollar figure on heart disease -- it is easy to state the question, butcomplicated to answer. Nevertheless, there have been some studies by governmentagencies, newspapers, and independent researchers that create a clearer picture.The studies differ widely in the states they cover, in their level of sophistication and inthe assumptions they make. However, they have all come to the same conclusion, andmany of their estimates of the costs are fairly similar.COMMON PARAMETERS OF THE STUDIESMost of these studies do not simply look at the costs of an isolated case. Rather the bestanalyses compare a system in which the death penalty is employed to a system dealingwith similar crimes in which a life sentence is the most severe punishment allowed. Atevery step of the analysis, the question is asked: how much more, or less, does thesystem with the death penalty cost compared to the other system?One important point about the better cost studies: many of the costs of the deathpenalty do not appear as line items in the budget. It is not accurate to say that the timespent by the prosecution, by the judges, and even in some instances by the defense,could be calculated as no expense because, if these participants weren’t doing deathpenalty cases, they would still have to be paid the same. This ignores what the studies
Costs of the Death Penalty page 7call “opportunity costs.” Time is money. If a prosecutor or judge works longer on acase because it is a death penalty case, then those hours are not available for otherwork. The same is true for the judge’s staff, and even for the square feet of thecourtroom used for the trial. If death penalty cases take more time, then that timedifference is a net cost measured in the hours of all the participants.HOW MUCH DOES THE DEATH PENALTY COST?The major cost studies on the death penalty all indicate that it is much more expensivethan a system where the most severe sentence is life in prison:⇒The most comprehensive study conducted in this country found that the deathpenalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution over the costs of a nondeathpenalty system imposing a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life. 6These findings are sensitive to the number of executions the state carries out.However, the authors noted that even if the death penalty was 100% efficient, i.e., ifevery death sentence resulted in an execution, the extra costs to the taxpayers wouldstill be $216,000 per execution.⇒Some years ago, the Miami Herald estimated that the costs of the death penalty inFlorida were $3.2 million per execution, based on the rate of executions at that time. 7Florida's death penalty system has bogged down for a number of reasons, includinga controversy over the electric chair. As a result, a more recent estimate of the costsin Florida by the Palm Beach Post found a much higher cost per execution: Floridaspends $51 million a year above and beyond what it would cost to punish all firstdegreemurderers with life in prison without parole. Based on the 44 executionsFlorida had carried out from 1976 to 2000, that amounts to a cost of $24 million foreach execution. 86 . P. Cook, "The Costs of Processing Murder Cases in North Carolina," Duke University (May 1993).7 . D. Von Drehle, "Bottom Line: Life in Prison One-sixth as Expensive," The Miami Herald, July 10,1988, at 12A.8 . S. V. Date, "The High Price of Killing Killers," Palm Beach Post, Jan. 4, 2000, at 1A.
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Testimony of Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director, Death

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