Summary: Comparing The Death Penalty States

Driant Hoti, Genti Koqinaj
October 24, 2011

Comparing Death Penalty States to Non-Death Penalty States

The death penalty is one of the most controversial topics of the 21th century. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1977 until today, 1,234 detainees have been convicted with the death penalty (“World Coalition against the Death Penalty,” 2). On the 5th November 2005, around 500 protesters demonstrated against the death penalty (Rubac par.1). Those protests are quite often, since there are many individuals and groups who oppose the capital punishment. However, there are many people who are in favor of the old ‘eye for an eye’ doctrine. In this never ending discussion, one of the main arguments of the pro death penalty
The Death Penalty Center has gathered some facts about the financial background of the death penalty. According to “Facts about Death Penalty,” which was updated on September 2010, the state of Texas pays around two and a half million dollars for every execution, which is three times more expensive than imprisoning one person in a cell at the highest security for at least 40 years (“Facts about Death Penalty,” par.17). Michael E. Ebert, the author of “Weighing the Cost of Capital Punishment v. Life in Prison without Parole,” emphasizes that death penalty is far more expensive than life in prison. He argues that capital punishment requires a larger juror cost, since the juror pools are larger, the selection process takes more time, and jury sequestration is more usual than for life sentence. “Costly expert witnesses, including forensic, medical and psychiatric experience, are used more extensively and frequently in capital trails.” Beyond that, the average time spend on the death row is above ten years, so for those ten year the state has to take the cost of the prisoner. Not to forgot the expenses of an attorney, reversals and the execution itself. All those expenses create a total cost which is higher than life sentence (Ebert 4). Basically the states with the capital punishment pay higher cost than non-death penalty
A research in the Columbia University has studied the death penalty convictions. In 5,800 capital convictions cases from 1973-1995, the researchers from the Columbia University have found grave inaccuracies in 68% of the cases (Death Penalty Mistakes the Rule, par.2). Convicting the wrong person can happened also in non-death penalty states, however, in non-death penalty states there is a possibility of correcting this mistake by releasing the inmate. In contrast, in death penalty states no one can improve potential mistakes since the fatal outcome of capital convictions cannot be reverse. According to Eileen M. Connor, the author of “The undermining influence of the federal death penalty on capital policymaking and criminal justice administration in the states.” the death sentence act of 1996 increased the crime rates in the USA. (Connor