Can you imagine living through the worst nightmare of having a loved one murdered – then finding out your state can’t afford to follow through with a death penalty sentence?    

One of the most unlikely victims of the economic crunch…could be the death penalty. Now people who commit horrendous crimes in the future – could be spared the ultimate punishment. The reason? Leaders from more states claim pursuing capitol punishment cases are just too expensive. They say it is simply cheaper to keep convicts in prison the rest of their lives.

It *seems* like it would cost more money to keep a roof over a prisoner’s head, feed them, and give them medical aid — but after crunching the numbers, many state lawmakers say it’s more cost effective to keep death row criminals alive, and in some cases, could save them up to 500-grand per prisoner.

Last week, the Kansas Judiciary Committee debated the issue and may vote on it this week. One Republican Senator says the state’s deficit is so severe, that they have to look at every way they can to figure out where to cut costs, the death penalty being no exception. The average death penalty case costs the state of Kansas 1.26 million dollars — compared to 740-thousand dollars for keeping an inmate behind bars for life. death row cases involve longer trials, with more expert witnesses, lots of motions, and costly jury selection.

36 states have the death penalty, several of them are now looking at the possibility of eliminating it to save money. In fact a couple states have had to release non-death-row inmates to cut costs.

Some argue, that justice should not be decided by a price tag – and that those against the death penalty, are using the financial crisis to push their personal agenda. some victim’s family members have spoken out, saying punishing their loved-one’s killers is worth the cost and shouldn’t be debated. Lawmakers in the states considering scrapping the death penalty are thinking of using the money that would be saved to do other things, like pursue cold cases, and to spare employees from having to take work furlough.  

In case you are curios…

STATES WITH THE DEATH PENALTY (36)

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas*
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
New Hampshire*
New Mexico
Nebraska
Nevada
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Wyoming
U.S. Govt
U.S. Military*

*Indicates jurisdictions with no executions since 1976.

STATES WITHOUT THE DEATH PENALTY (14)

Alaska
District of Columbia
Hawaii
Iowa
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Maine
New York
North Dakota
New Jersey
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin