Costs & Savings
Life without the possibility of parole costs LESS than the death penalty
Many people think that the death penalty costs less than life in prison with absolutely no chance of parole, but that’s just not true. According to a June 2011 study by former death penalty prosecutor and federal judge Arthur L. Alarcón, and law professor Paula Mitchell, California has spent $4 billion on the death penalty since 1978 and that death penalty trials are 20 times more expensive than trials seeking a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole.
Replace and save
By replacing the death penalty with life in prison without possibility of parole, California taxpayers would save well over $100 million every year, as well as hundreds of millions in one-time savings. Our broken death penalty system puts California on track to spend $1 billion dollars in the next five years. Our resources would be better spent on law enforcement, violence prevention and in our kids’ schools. We need more teachers in the classroom, not more lawyers in the courtroom.
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