Sentencing a prisoner with the death penalty is an expensive practice. It is estimated that since the death penalty was implemented in 1978, it has cost California $5 billion. These costs come from incarceration and legal petitions, challenges, and appeals.
The system that costs $5 billion has actually only executed 13 death row inmates. That works out to an average of $384 million per executed inmate. Of course, the costs are shared with death row prisoners who were pardoned or won appeals. California has not executed any death row prisoners since 2006. The reason for this is the state is reviewing the legality of its lethal injection process.
Is the Death Penalty Expensive?
The death penalty has a lot of opposition, especially in California. One of the main arguments of those against the death penalty is that it is so expensive. A prisoner who is sentenced to death has a much lengthier legal procedure in order to ensure the sentence is just. The initial trial is much more extensive to ensure the defendant is not wrongfully convicted. A death row inmate also receives more appeals, and the state must house the inmate until they have exhausted their appeals and are executed. The cost of housing death row inmates is more than normal incarceration as there is increased security, and the death row inmates are held in individual cells. The appeals that these inmates are entitled to can take a while because there are only 100 attorneys in California who have the qualifications to handle capital punishment cases. Currently, there are over 700 prisoners on death row. It is estimated that by 2030 there will be over 1,000 inmates on death row in California, and the cost of the death penalty will rise from $5 billion to $9 billion.