People in the United States often think that the use of capital punishment is actually cheaper than giving life sentences but this is simply not the case. According to a former jurist from California named Donald McCartin, he says, “10 times more expensive to kill than to keep them alive”. When the death penalty is spoken about the argument is not whether killing a man is morally right but cheaper. Advocates that support capital punishment insist that we need punishment this severe to deter people from committing horrible crimes. Opponents for the death penalty have failed to reveal any statistics that show a deterrence in states that use the death penalty. So maybe these advocates will have a change in heart when they read its not cheaper and morally wrong to use the death penalty.

According to a study done by the LA times it costs the tax payers an extra 114 million more a year in California to keep someone on death row compared to life in prison. California has only executed about 11 people over the last 27 years. For something that is morally wrong and very expensive many politicians fight to keep it.

Over 20 years can pass after sentencing to the death penalty that it actually occurs. For a man to be executed,  first years of legal battles and drawn out appeals in court must pass. New Jersey recently banned the death penalty for this issue alone back in 2007. Estimations that the average cost for the death penalty is around 4.2 million for each execution case yet none were actually executed.  States are facing many budget cuts and can not afford to use the death penalty anymore and are as a result are abolishing capital punishment. States have hundreds who have been sentenced to death yet in the United States last year under 50 inmates were executed.

Giving someone life without parole compared to the death penalty creates many opportunities for the inmates to be exonerated of charges. With new technology being used in crime labs it gives the inmate the right sentence. The death penalty has killed many that actually weren’t guilty of the crime but were charged with the crime. After a person is put to death, sometimes the truth is found about who actually committed the crime and nothing can be done. The United States is one of few that still practice the death penalty, other have been able to see what we can not.

“To Execute or Not: A Question of Cost? – USATODAY.com.” To Execute or Not: A Question of Cost? – USATODAY.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.http://deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42

“Federal Death Row Prisoners.” Federal Death Row Prisoners. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/federal-death-row-prisoners