More Death Penalty Stuff

Sorry, I just thought that this was rather important,

According to state and federal records obtained by The Times, maintaining the California death penalty system costs taxpayers more than $114 million a year beyond the cost of simply keeping the convicts locked up for life and not counting the millions more in court costs needed to prosecute capital cases and hold post-conviction hearings in state and federal courts.

Okay, this is the first "good" estimate that we have since, I believe, 1988. Back then, the estimate was closer to $90 million, but I think that they included at least some court costs. I use the term "good", because I would consider the LA Times to be at least somewhat respected as a valid source of information. Others may disagree.

Here is a further break down of costs,

According to Corrections Department spokeswoman Margot Bach, it costs $90,000 more a year to house an inmate on death row, where each person has a private cell and extra guards, than in the general prison population. That accounts for $57.5 million annually.

Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, whose deputies represent the counties during appeals, estimates that he devotes about 15% of his criminal division budget to capital cases, or about $11 million annually.

The California Supreme Court, which is required by law to review every death penalty case, spends $11.8 million annually for court-appointed defense counsel.

The Office of the State Public Defender, which represents some death row inmates, has an annual budget of $11.3 million. The San Francisco-based Habeas Corpus Resource Center, another state-funded office, represents inmates and trains death penalty attorneys on a budget of $11 million.

Finally, federal public defenders offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento, and private attorneys appointed by the federal court system for California cases, receive about $12 million annually.

The resulting $114-million annual cost does not include the substantial extra funds needed to try the complicated capital cases in county courts.

Overall, this is just one of many overwhelming negatives of having the Death Penalty in California. Pretty soon, a new study on race and Capital Punishment will be out and undoubtedly it will show another obvious flaw of the system.

Full Article at LA Times.