Montana Abolition Coalition

Wasting Precious Public Resources on a Broken System

The Black Hole of Death Penalty Costs

Every state that has done a cost study of its death penalty system has found it to be substantially more expensive than cases where prosecutors seek lengthy prison sentences (Life without Parole) instead of the death penalty. (Sullivan 2004)

• On 1/2/2007, the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission stated “consistent with the Commission’s finding, recent studies in states such as Tennessee, Kansas, Indiana, Florida and North Carolina have all concluded that the costs associated with death penalty cases are significantly higher than those associated with without parole cases.” (NJ Death Penalty Study Commission Report, 2007)

• On average in Tennessee, capital trials cost 48% more than life imprisonment trials

• Capital cases in Kansas are 70% more expensive than comparable non capital cases, including the cost of incarceration. (Kansas Performance Audit Report, December 2003).

• In Indiana, assuming 20% of death sentences are overturned and reduced to life, the total costs of the death penalty exceed the complete costs of LWOP sentences by 38% (Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, January 10, 2002).

• Enforcing the death penalty costs Florida $51 million per year above what it would cost to punish all first degree murderers with LWOP (Palm Beach Post, January 4, 2000).

• The death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution over the costs of sentencing murderers to life imprisonment. The majority of those costs occur at the trial level. (Duke University, May, 1993).

• In Idaho, the Commissioner of Cassia County, Paul Christensen, stated that it costs approximately $1 million to imprison a convicted defendant to life, whereas a death penalty case may cost 5 times that. (Idaho Statesmen, 2003).

• In Texas, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. (Hoppe, 1992).

• Capital trials in California are 6 times more expensive than non capital murder trails (Magagnini, 1988). 87% of California’s death penalty costs are incurred at the trial level (Sacramento Bee, 1988).

• A commission appointed by the Connecticut General Assembly compared the costs of judicial proceedings in capital versus non-capital cases and found that a death penalty case is double that of a case where the person is sentenced to life in prison. (CN General Assembly Commission on the Death Penalty, 2003)

Why the Death Penalty Costs More

Death penalty costs are incurred mostly during the trial phase (and regardless of the verdict) (Sullivan 2004). Cases in which the death penalty is sought incur extra costs over similar cases in which the death penalty is not sought because of:

o The extra cost of the second, penalty phase of the trial, including investigation

o Cost of additional counsel for the defendant (MT requires 2 death certified attorneys for the defendant)

o Motions directed at the capital punishment aspects of the case

o Additional expert witnesses

o Retrials and automatic appeals (est. in 1997 to be $170,000 – $219,000)

o Extra expended time to select “death qualified” jurors

*Only 10-30% of individuals (Haas and Inciardi, 1988; Bowers, 1984) tried with capital cases are actually sentenced to death; and of these, 39% will be overturned by judicial review or clemency (Stewart).

 

Life Without Parole Provides Opportunity for Restitution for Victims' Families

Life Without Parole (LWOP) allows an opportunity to provide restitution to victim’s families. Some states allow maximum security prisoners to carry out work duties (although currently Maximum security prisoners in MT do not carry out work duties) at a reduced hourly wage, thereby lowering the state’s cost of their incarnation. At the same time, prisoners can pay a portion of the reduced wage to victim’s families, providing restitution.

A 1997 Ohio survey found 59% would support an alternative to execution if it involved life in prison without chance of parole and a requirement that the inmate work while in prison with the money going to the victim's family. Only 31% supported the death penalty in preference to this alternative.

An inmate working 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, over a 25 year sentence at $3.00 an hour would generate $150,000 for the family of the victim (Just Revenge, Dr. Mark Costanzo 1997)

Montana's Death Penalty Costs

The costs borne by the public are the prosecution costs (Office of the Montana Attorney General and county prosector costs), Court Costs (court and state judges and administration), Defense Costs (almost always, defendants are impoverished, which means the defense costs are also borne by the people of the state of Montana) - including 2 mandated death qualified attorneys for the defendant, the cost of the direct appeal (automatic when a death sentence is handed down in Montana) including costs again for the attorneys, transcript costs, etc.

Because the defendant's life is at stake, many mount post conviction challenges which again require attorneys and associated costs. When the defendant's life is not at stake (such as in life without parole options), they often do not pursue these post conviction challenges, eliminating this set of costs. The actual execution itself and preparation for it is also borne at the taxpayer's expense. Together, these are considerable - incurring much more expense than during and after non capital trials.

In two cases in Lewis & Clark county in 2006 where the death penalty was not sought, there were approximately 30 hours for the two attorneys and less than five months between the crime occurring and sentencing.

In two similar cases in Gallatin County where the death penalty was sought, 760 attorney hours were incurred until the court ruled that the prosecution filed to make the it a capital case too late (and thus, those cases are now non-capital cases). However, had they continued as death penalty cases, litigation likely would have continued for many years.

There are no appropriations for pursuing capital punishment cases in the state of Montana. Therefore, every time an individual is charged with a capital crime, the money must be redirected from other law enforcement departments. A significant amount of money that could have been spent to fund additional police detectives, investigators, prosecutors, judges, and other resources to provide for Montana public safety are being spent on the death penalty system which, while trying and incurring the expense of countless capital cases, has managed to execute only 3 people since 1972.

In addition, significant public expenditures in terms of the time of Judicial, Prosecutorial, Public Defense staff, and law enforcement personnel are not easily quantifiable. But a non capital system would free up considerable amounts of time for law enforcement, etc. to pursue justice in other crimes, adding to public safety when in both instances of execution or Life Without Parole, the convicted individual is permanently removed from society.

 

In Montana since 1976, 46% of capital convictions have been commuted (6 of 13 convictions). Nevertheless, all cases where the prosecutor asks for the death penalty incur capital trial costs. The high cost of capital punishment comes at the expense of other law-enforcement resources and public safety. (Just Revenge, Dr. Mark Costanzo 1997)

Therefore, one cannot judge how much it costs by the amount of recent executions - one must take into account all the capital convictions, regardless of whether or not an execution took place.

Smart on Crime

A system which uses Montanans' crime prevention dollars wisely is one that does not throw money after a broken system. They want a system that is smart on crime: a system which uses our tax dollars responsibly to protect members of our society. Throwing millions of dollars away to execute one or two people is not the answer.

Replacing Montana's broken death penalty system with Life Without the Possibility of Parole protects the community by permanently removing convicted individuals from society. It frees up resources to pursue real and measurable crime prevention and fighting measures such as assistance and education for at-risk populations (such as troubled youth), better equipment and and training for Police officers, treatment programs to intervene and prevent the escalation of behaviors that may lead to capital offenses, and investment in better forensic science to identify perpetrators.

Montanans want their money spent responsibly in a fair and just way. Clearly, the death penalty is not fair nor just nor an effective crime-fighting policy nor fiscally responsible. But the alternative - life without the possibility of parole - is all of these things and it prevents the possibility of executing the innocent.