Tennessee Death Penalty Fact Sheet
Cost
Capital Punishment is a far more expensive system than one whose maximum penalty is life without the possibility of parole.
According to a New Jersey study conducted by New Jersey Policy Perspectives, between 1983 and 2005, N.J. taxpayers paid $253 million more for their death penalty system than they would have for a system that only seeks life without parole as its maximum punishment.
A 1993 study conducted by Duke University found that the death penalty cost North Carolina $2.16 million more per execution than a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life imprisonment.
A 2008 Maryland study conducted by the Urban Institute found that the total cost of the death penalty to Maryland taxpayers for cases between 1978 to 1999 was at least $186 million. Furthermore, the total cost to the taxpayers of Maryland per death penalty case is $3 million, over $1.9 million more per case than a no-death-notice case.
A 2004 study by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury concluded that:
The Office of Research was unable to determine the total, comprehensive cost of the death penalty in Tennessee. Although noting that, "no reliable data exists concerning the cost of prosecution or defense of first-degree murder cases in Tennessee," the report concluded that capital murder trials are longer and more expensive at every step compared to other murder trials.
Death penalty trials cost an average of 48% more than the average cost of trials in which prosecutors seek life imprisonment.
The greatest costs of the death penalty are incurred prior to and at trial, not in post-conviction proceedings.
Under a death penalty system, trials have two separate phases (conviction and sentencing). Special motions and extra jury selection questioning typically precede these trials.
More investigative costs are generally incurred in capital cases, particularly by the prosecution.
When death penalty trials result in a verdict less than death or are reversed, the taxpayer incurs all the extra costs of capital pretrial and trial proceeding and must then also pay either for the cost of incarcerating the prisoner for life or the costs of a retrial (which often leads to a life sentence).
The death penalty diverts resources from genuine crime control measures.
Spending money on the death penalty system means:
Taking it away from existing components of the criminal justice system, such as prosecutions of drug crimes, domestic violence, and child abuse.
Reducing the resources states put into crime prevention, education and rehabilitation, bulletproof vests for police officers, investigative resources, drug treatment programs, and care and follow-up of people who have been released into the community.
