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• cmichel
• 20 Jun
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By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times A senior judge and law professor examine rising costs of the program. Without major reforms, they conclude, capital punishment will continue to exist mostly in theory while exacting an untenable cost. Taxpayers have spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment in California since it was reinstated in 1978, or about $308 million for each of the 13 executions carried out since then, according to a comprehensive analysis of the death penalty’s costs. The examination of state, federal and local expenditures for capital cases, conducted over three years by a senior federal judge and a law professor, estimated that the additional costs of capital trials, enhanced security on death row and legal representation for the condemned adds $184 million to the budget each year. [Full story: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-adv-death-penalty-costs-20110620,0,3505671.story ]

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Death penalty costs California $184 million a year, study says