Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket.

  • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 months ago

    It costs less to hold someone for life in prison than it does to carry out the death penalty, all things considered.

    • doctorcrimson
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      10 months ago

      I suppose that’s fair, considering the cost of the shelter in an existing prison is negligible, but that higher cost for the sentence is really only the legal defence costs for people who rely on the state for defence and choose to fight the sentence. The cost of the executions themselves are much cheaper, and I think on average the executions probably would be as well as long as more of them accept the sentence or pay for their own attorneys than the number who fight it on the state’s expense.

      The opposite could be true as well though, it could be vastly more expensive to try to execute them if everyone fights it on the state’s expense.