Persuasive Essay Pro Death Penalty

The death penalty is not needed in our country because it is extremely expensive and costs more money than alternative methods such as life imprisonment, is skewed by class and race and is not viewed as moral by many in the public. Economically, the death penalty is a waste of all taxpayers money. Trials and retrials to repeal the sentencing of capital punishment can cost states millions of dollars each year. “The greatest costs associated with the death penalty occur prior to and during trial, not in post-conviction proceedings. Even if all post-conviction proceedings (appeals) were abolished, the death penalty would still be more expensive than alternative sentences (Cost, 1)”. The majority of those on death row are impoverished, so the

So taxpayers, must pay the cost of their attorney or attornies, investigation fees, court costs and other expenses such as expert witnesses. There, of course, is the appeal process where similar costs are again spent. Studies have found that the death penalty is far more expensive than life in prison. The process is more complex than for any other kind of criminal case. The largest costs come at the pretrial and trial stages. The tremendous expenses in a death penalty case apply whether or not the defendant is convicted, let alone sentenced to death. It also costs more to keep a prisoner separate when they are sentenced to death as they have to be kept apart from the general prison population. Overall, trials for the death penalty are costly. “Studies of how much states spend on death penalty cases versus life-without-parole cases range from an additional cost of $2.2 million per case in North Carolina to $24 million per case in Florida (Wilkins, 11)”. Local governments have to pay the costs of capital murder cases. An argument can be made to use that money to pay for more law enforcement or social programs to help people in the