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$4 Billion Spent On Capital Punishment Since 1978, $9 Billion Predicted By 2030
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A new study by U.S. 9th Circuit Judge Arthur L. Alarcon and Loyola Law School professor Paula M. Mitchell, predicts that by 2030 San Quentin's death row population will have grown to over 1,000 and that death penalty costs will reach $9 billion, according to the L.A. Times.
In an effort to improve the deadlock debate, and with warnings about California’s deteriorating capital punishment system, Executing the Will of the Voters: A Roadmap to Mend or End the California Legislature's Multi-Billion-Dollar Death Penalty Debacle, outlines three possible options for voters to "end the reality of spiraling costs and infrequent executions," including preserving "capital punishment with about $85 million more in funding for courts and lawyers each year; reduce the number of death penalty-eligible crimes for an annual savings of $55 million; or abolish capital punishment and save taxpayers about $1 billion every five or six years."
Taxpayers have spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment in California since it was reinstated in 1978, or about $308 million for each of the 13 executions carried out since then, according to a comprehensive analysis of the death penalty's costs. The examination of state, federal and local expenditures for capital cases, conducted over three years by a senior federal judge and a law professor, estimated that the additional costs of capital trials, enhanced security on death row and legal representation for the condemned adds $184 million to the budget each year.
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