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Home News Ohio DP history THE COST OF THE DEATH PENALTY VERSUS LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE THE COST OF THE DEATH PENALTY VERSUS LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE
Wednesday, 26 July 2006
Jurors in capital cases prior to 1996 had only the sentencing options of death or life in prison with the possibility of parole. The option of life without parole (LWOP) has given jurors the means to punish an offender without the risk that s/he will be released someday. Since its introduction, LWOP has been frequently used. In Franklin County, Ohio, for example, capital cases that have gone to trial since 1998 have ended in 6 death sentences and 21 sentences of LWOP.
In addition, David Bodiker of the OPD argues: "It's counterintuitive, but
the death penalty costs more than life without parole." Studies in New York, North Carolina, T, California, and Florida have confirmed that judicial systems in which
the maximum sentence is death are more expensive than those in which the
maximum sentence is life without parole.
Why is this? The legal process from arrest to execution is complex and lengthy.
Capital cases are estimated to be three and a half times as long as other
murder trials and involve higher litigation costs than the next closest
alternative, murder cases involving life without parole. In addition, the Ohio judicial appeal process for capital cases
includes a mandatory direct appeals process and the possibility for a
post-conviction petition and a federal habeas corpus appeal, all of which take
many years. For example, as of November 1, 2003, about half of all Ohio capital inmates (103 of 213) had been on death
row for 10 or more years. More than a quarter of all death row inmates, (59 of
213) had been on death row for 15 years or long
No comprehensive study has been made of the costs of Ohio's capital cases.
However, the case of Wilford Berry ("The Volunteer,"), a mentally ill
man who was executed in 1999, is instructive. The cost of prosecuting and
defending Wilford Berry's death-penalty case was estimated to be $1.5
million-though this figure did not include all potential costs. Excluded from
the $1.5 million figure were the costs of the federal appeals which Berry refused, but to which he was legally entitled.
In contrast, the cost of keeping Berry in prison for 50 years (until he reached
age 75) was estimated to be $950,000-though this, too, did not include all
potential legal costs that might have arisen during his incarceration.
Finally, because the cost of the death penalty is higher than that of life
without parole,
death penalty cases reduce the funds available for other public goods and
services. "The exorbitant costs of capital punishment are actually making America less safe because badly needed financial and
legal resources are being diverted from effective crime fighting
strategies…"