Recent Blog Posts in October 2009

Should the death penalty be put to death?  That question undoubtedly evokes very strong emotion from all sides of the debate.  But apart from any moral / ethical arguments, a recent study found that the death penalty costs states hundreds of millions of dollars a year, depleting budgets in the midst of economic crisis.  That fact held true even when executions were not carried out.  "It is doubtful in today's economic climate that any legislature would introduce the death penalty if faced with the reality that each execution would cost taxpayers $25 million, or that the state might spend more than $100 million over several years and produce few or no executions," argued Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center and the report's author.  And, interestingly enough, only one in every three capital trials may result in a death sentence, so the true cost of that death sentence is $3 million," the study's author said.  The bottom line is that in just one death penalty trial ". . . the state may pay $1 million more than for a non-death penalty trial."  "Surely there are more pressing needs deserving funding," he wrote, emphasizing and noting that execution itself, statistically speaking, is one of the least effective crime deterrents.  When you factor in the reality only 1 in 10 death sentences handed down may result in an execution, the cost to the state to reach that one execution is $30 million, Dieter explained in a report entitled "Smart on Crime."  A majority of Americans support capital punishment (the death penalty).  The questions remains, would they do so if they truly understood the costs involved?  As an experienced criminal defense attorney based in Los Angeles , I am told by judges repeatedly to "move cases along" and that the state simply cannot afford delays and continuances.  Here, in California, we have such an extensive budget shortfall that all courts are closed the third Wednesday of every month.  Should we in California continue to advocate for and support the death penalty?  Strictly monetarily speaking, the answer has to be a resounding no.  For more information about the death penalty and all of your criminal defense needs, kindly contact the Law Offices of Richard M. Sudar at (310) 277-4112 or simply click here for immediate assistance.