Pros And Cons Of Capital Punishment

Another reason why capital punishment is not justified is that it harms the government’s economy. Capital punishment actually causes the trials to become more expensive. Capital punishment cost have increased over the years. This can be due to several different factors. According to Maurice Chammah there are six main reasons why the cost of capital punishment has increased over the years. These include attorney pay, experts, unpredictability, mitigation, juries and housing . The cost for experts have also increased with time. As the quality of the experts have increased they have become more expensive. In capital punishment cases both prosecutors and the defense attorneys spend more time preparing for the cases compared to any other case. For example, the judicial conference report of 2010 found that attorneys facing the death penalty spend an average of one thousand eight hundred eighty-nine hours per trial between 1989 and 1997. While between 1998 and 2004 the average went up to three thousand five hundred fifty-seven.

All of the new standards that are being set by the United States Supreme Court means that there are new and costly battles. Mitigation has also become a big part of the expenses that come out of the capital punishment. Mitigation specialist have been working with defense teams since the 1990s. In 2003 the United States Supreme Court ruled that Kevin Wiggins would get a new trial because his lawyers had failed to investigate his past. Kevin Wiggins had been sentenced to death because he raped and murdered a woman in Maryland in the late 1980s. After the decision made by the Supreme Court on Wiggins case mitigation specialists eventually became paid members of all capital defense