Budget Crises Put an Expiration Date on Death Row
At least five states are considering getting rid of the death penalty, but the possible repeals have nothing to do with ethics. A study has shown that executions cost taxpayers three times as much as putting an inmate away for life, and budget shortfalls are making even capital punishment hawks doubt the sensibility of their position.
At least five states are considering getting rid of the death penalty, but the possible repeals have nothing to do with ethics. A study has shown that executions cost taxpayers three times as much as putting an inmate away for life, and budget shortfalls are making even capital punishment hawks doubt the sensibility of their position. –ARK
Your support matters…The Guardian:
The weakened economy has recently drawn attention to an unexpected but stark fact: that sentencing someone to death costs more than life without parole.
Maryland, Connecticut, Kansas and Ohio are all currently debating whether to abolish the death penalty while California, which has both the largest budget deficit and the most people on death row of any state, could put it to a public vote in 2012.
…
In a case that is eligible for the death penalty but where it’s not sought and the sentence is life without the possibility of parole, the average cost to the US taxpayer is $1.1m.
But where a death sentence is given, the case in its entirety will cost an average of $3m.
Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.
You can help level the playing field. Become a member.
Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.
Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.
Lessons learned from the 2008 financial crisis show that taxpayer-funded blank checks to institutions do nothing to help those struggling
Its ruling on whether to make it easier for the president to fire the consumer financial law enforcement chief could affect other agencies.
A Business Roundtable statement about the purpose of corporations shows that ruling elites fear their crimes are coming back to haunt them.
The 43rd president—besides leaving the domestic economy in ruins—bequeathed a disastrous foreign policy.
The U.S. government is unnecessarily feeding the “financialized” economy in which money makes money without producing new goods and services.
Seth Frotman, in a scathing resignation letter to acting director Mick Mulvaney, says the agency “has turned its back on young people and their financial futures."
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.