C.J. said:
Let's just take one item of one of your sources (Feel free to choose another if you so desire), at the the first link.
I chose this one at random, but again feel free to choose another.
Kansas Study Concludes Death Penalty is Costly Policy
In its review of death penalty expenses, the State of Kansas concluded that capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-death penalty cases. The study counted death penalty case costs through to execution and found that the median death penalty case costs $1.26 million. Non-death penalty cases were counted through to the end of incarceration and were found to have a median cost of $740,000. For death penalty cases, the pre-trial and trial level expenses were the most expensive part, 49% of the total cost. The costs of appeals were 29% of the total expense, and the incarceration and execution costs accounted for the remaining 22%. In comparison to non-death penalty cases, the following findings were revealed:
Notice first that LWOP was not utilized in place of the DP. "Non-death penalty cases were counted through to the end of incarceration and were found to have a median cost of $740,000." BTW they do not discuss what types of non DP cases these were do they?
Notice also that the median death penalty case costs $1.26 million. I will accept that with no argument, but will tell you it is low. The national average is approximately $1.5 million.
There is no doubt that a DP trial and appeals are more costly than a non DP trial, and this is not in dispute by me.
Here is the conflict of costs. I assume you accept the $1.26 million mentioned, as do I so we have no conflict here right?
Trial and appeals for an average LWOP trial average approximately $75,000. Sounds reasonable doesn't it? At an average of $34,400 per year to keep an inmate in an average cell this means for the amount stated ($740,000), the average inmate spent approximately 19 years and 4 months. Not exactly life without parole is it?
If the inmate were placed in a maximum security cell (Approximately $75,000 per year), his stay would be less than nine years. Again, not exactly life without parole is it?
A $34,000 yearly cost per inmate for 50 years, figuring a 2% annual cost increase amounts to over $3 million, doesn't it. Now lets put this bad guy in a max security cell for fifty years, and it works out to be between $6 and $7 million doesn't it?
This is significantly higher than the $1.26 million. Heck cut it down to a slum cell at $17,000 per year, its still over the $1.26 million.
You are welcome to pick another to discuss.