“Opponents Focus On Cost In Death Penalty Debate”

The title of this post is the title of this piece from NPR’s “Morning Edition.”  Here is how the segment starts:

Efforts to repeal the death penalty are getting a boost from the economic crisis.  New Mexico repealed its death penalty in mid-March, and the Maryland Legislature has passed strict new limits on when the death penalty may be used. Death penalty repeal bills have advanced in several other legislatures, including those of Montana, Kansas and New Hampshire.

In all those states, there’s been renewed interest in the argument that the death penalty costs considerably more than sentencing murderers to life in prison. Viki Elkey, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty, says lawmakers seemed especially interested in the financial argument this year.  “The cost issue has always been there, but of course it’s been exacerbated this year because of the fact that the state is down $453 million,” Elkey says.

Some recent related posts:

• Great new (though still dated) examination of the death penalty and plea bargaining
• CNN now talking about the costs of the death penalty and state reforms 
• States considering laying off the death penalty during tough economic times
• The economic case against the death penalty getting more and more attention
• More discussion of cost concerns in debates over the death penalty
• Capital case cost concerns continue to inform reform debate
• Still more discussion of the costs of the death penalty
• What might 2009 have in store for . . . the death penalty in the US?